FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 75, NO. 4 



40° 



FIGURE 5. — Albacore catch per 150 line-hours by American Fishermen's Research Foundation charter vessels 

 and sea-surface temperature: a. 10-30 May 1973; b. 31 May-9 June 1973; c. 10-19 June 1973; d. 20-29 June 1973; 

 e. 30 June-16 July 1973. 



over a 3-wk period in June, and 4) elsewhere 

 catches were substantially lower. 



Catches Made By 

 Noncharter Commercial Fishing Vessels 



Because of the fishing success of the chartered 

 fishing vessels, in the years following the first 

 survey (1972), noncharter commercial albacore 

 vessels have fished in the offshore region concur- 

 rently with the chartered fishing vessels and re- 

 search vessels. During June 1973 and June 1974 it 

 is estimated that, respectively, 25 to 30 and 50 to 

 60 albacore vessels fished across a large zone of 

 latitudes in the offshore regions (Jack Bowland 

 pers. commun.). Additional information on the 

 distribution and relative abundance of albacore is 

 provided by these catch data. 



Figure 6a-e shows estimates of mean catch- 

 per-unit effort by 15-day period and 1° quadrangle 

 of latitude and longitude for May through July 

 1973, for those commercial albacore vessels from 



804 



which logbook records were available. [Logbook 

 records were standardized by methods given in 

 Laurs et al. (1976).] 



As with the charter vessels, a center of high 

 relative abundance was found in the offshore re- 

 gion between lat. 33° and 35°N and long. 139° and 

 143°W. From mid-May through mid- June (Figure 

 6a, b) no catches were reported north of lat. 36°N 

 nor (with one exception) east of long. 134°W. In the 

 latter half of June (Figure 6c), a scattering of 

 catches was made in the intervening zone. The 

 distribution and relative abundance of albacore, 

 indicated by the charter and noncharter fishing 

 vessel catches, were similar. Catches by nonchar- 

 ter vessels were made over the same latitudinal 

 range and the same offshore to nearshore se- 

 quence was observed. The fishing success of the 

 noncharter vessels further demonstrates that 

 commercial concentrations of albacore were 

 available 4 to 6 wk earlier than the normal fishing 

 season in waters hundreds of miles offshore of the 

 area where the fishery has traditionally operated. 



