A Japanese fishing joint venture: worker experience and national development in the Solomon Islands

Abstract

Development of marine resources, especially tuna, is the key to national development for many newly-independent states of the South Pacific. They have industrialized fishing through joint ventures-collaborations between bost governments and multinational corporations. Based on two years' field research, this report illuminates the first decade (1971-1981) of a tuna fishing joint venture between Taiyo Gyogyo of Tokyo, the largest fishing company in the world, and the Solomon Islands Government. It describes the history and operations of Solomom-Taiyo Limited, and the subsequent formation of National Fisheries Development, a second joint venture specifically devoted tothe creation of a national, Solomon Islands fishing fleet. A detailed examination is made of the two poles of industrialization. The first pole is the internal dynamics of the joint ventures, the manner in which Taiyo's capital, expertise, management and world marketing networks are coupled with the human and natural resources of theSolomons. The second pole is the national work force.