FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 75, NO. 4 



46' 



150° 



145° 



i — i — i — | — i — r 



45 c 



40< 



35° 



30° 



25 c 



3ZI 18 



SONIC TAGGING 



AREA 



21 20 



J I L 



J L 



- , ^ 



J L 



J L 



25° 



150° 



145° 140° 135° 130° 125° 120° 



FIGURE 2.— Track and station positions for RV David Starr Jordan cruise 79, 9 June-6 July 1973. 



115° 



Standard commercial albacore fishing equip- 

 ment and regular commercial fishing methods 

 were used. Most of the jig vessels trolled 10 lines 

 and baitboats 6 or 8 lines when jig fishing. (Bait- 

 boats had better success when trolling than when 

 baitfishing. ) Daily records pertaining to fishing 

 operations were maintained aboard each vessel, 

 including number of fish caught, fork length of 

 most fish caught (except for two vessels in 1972), 

 positions where fishing was started and ended, 

 amount of fishing effort expended, and fishing 

 conditions and signs of fish. In addition, sea- 

 surface temperature, sea conditions, and surface 

 weather conditions were recorded. Half of the 

 fishing vessels chartered in 1972 and 1973, and all 

 in 1974, were equipped with an XBT system; gen- 

 erally one or two XBT probes were launched each 



day. Sea-surface temperature measurements were 

 made using bucket thermometers. 



EARLY SEASON DISTRIBUTION 



AND RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF 



ALBACORE IN OFFSHORE WATERS 



Distribution of Catches Made By 

 Charter Vessels 



Nearly 27,000 albacore were caught by the 

 chartered fishing vessels during the three offshore 

 surveys (Table 1). In all three surveys, albacore 

 were taken in substantial numbers in an offshore 

 region between lat. 31° and 36°N from late May 

 through June. Catch rates were generally low or 

 zero in surrounding regions and during explorato- 



798 



