FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 72, NO. 1 



growth parameters failed to disclose any 

 significant differences between these groups. 

 These results are in line with unpublished 

 results of Utter whose biochemical gene fre- 

 quency studies gave no indication of hetero- 

 geneity between spring-born and fall-born 

 saury.*' Biochemical techniques also indicated 

 intra-area homogeneity of fish in waters be- 

 tween southern California and Vancouver 

 Island. Additional samples would have been 

 desirable for a more complete racial study; 

 however, results of this initial study strongly 

 suggest the eastern Pacific saury stock is basi- 

 cally represented by a single gene pool. 



Growth, maturity, and mortality studies 

 indicate that saury (1) display rapid growth 

 during the first year of life, (2) are capable of 

 attaining maturity during the second year, and 

 (3) probably do not survive beyond 6 years of 

 age. Results indicate the total mortality co- 

 efficient (Z) is between 1.25 and 2.20. Since 

 fishing mortality has remained insignificant, 

 Z would be a result of natural mortality {M), 

 assuming migration during the sampling period 

 has not significantly confounded the situation. 

 Intuitively, it seems Z is a reasonable approxi- 

 mation of M since sampling was conducted over 

 a wide geographical area during the middle of 

 the migratory period. No previous estimates 

 of natural mortality have been published for 

 the eastern Pacific saury stock; however, 

 Novikov (1969) reports natural mortality in 

 the western Pacific to be about 50% . Con- 

 verting to instantaneous mortality for direct 

 comparison, his e.stimate would be about 0.70. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Robert Larsen, Ma.ster of the research 

 vessel J(>h)i N. Cohh, and his entire crew 

 rendered exceptional service and helpful 

 suggestions during the field operations in 

 1970-71. I also thank George Hirschhorn of 

 the Northwest Fisheries Center for valuable 

 assistance in the growth studies. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Ahlstrom, E. H. 



1968. An evaluation ot" the fishery resources available 



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1956. Saury distribution and abundance, Pacific 

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Andreev, N. N. 



1962. Stick-held dip net for saury fishing. In N. N. 



Andreev, Spravochnik po orudiyam leva, setesna- 



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Serv., Springfield, Va. as TT 66-5 1046.) 

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1938. A quantitative theory of organic growth 



(Inquiries on growth laws. II.) Hum. Biol. 10:181- 



213. 

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1956. A review of methods for estimating mortality 



rates in exploited fish populations, with special 



reference to sources of bias in catch sampling. Rapp. 



P.-V. Reun. Cons. Perm. Int. Explor. Mer, 140, 



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1961. Fishes of the Pacific coast of Canada. 2d ed. 

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Clutter, R. I., and L. E. Whitesel. 



1956. Collection and interpretation of sockeye salmon 

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FUKUSHIMA, S. 



1956. On the size-composition of the Pacific saury, 

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Hatanaka, M. 



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 saury, Cololahis saini (Brevoort). Part I. Reproduc- 

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HOTTA, H. 



1960. On the analysis of the population of the 



saury (Cololahis sciiru) based on the scale and otolith 



characters, and their growth. [In Jap., Engl, summ.] 



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Hughes, S. E. 



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130 



