FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 87. NO. 1 



O 

 Q 



600 



500- 



400 



■^ 300 

 O 



»- 200- 



100- 



EFFORT BY JAPANESE PURSE SEINERS 



liiii|iiii 



I I t r I I IT I I I I I I T I I I M I I I I I I M I 



1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 



5000 1 



4000 



3000- 



u 2000 



2 



1000- 



YELLOWFIN CATCH - JAPANESE PURSE SEINERS 



t M t 1 i* TTTfrTT1 n T|rTTTTTTTII1III M IIIIIll|ITII I TTTT T TT T T I TT T T I T H T T T I T T I I T 1 1 1 [ I I I I T 1 I I I T T I 1 1 T I I 1 T I T 11 



1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 



Figure 1.— Monthly catch of yellowfin tuna and effort statistics for Japanese purse seiners in the 

 western Pacific based on data currently reported to the South Pacific Commission. 



around this level. (Note that the apparent drop in 

 effort for 1986 is an artifact due to time lags in 

 receiving catch reports.) 



The total catch of yellowfin by Japanese purse 

 seiners roughly parallels the temporal distribution 

 of effort (Fig. lA, B). Overall, the corresponding 



catch rates have remained fairly constant with the 

 lowest rates observed in 1983 (Fig. 2). 



Table 1 presents a range of estimates of the an- 

 nual catch rates for the various areal and temporal 

 stratifications of the data. There are no consistent 

 differences among the different stratifications 



126 



