SPEARFISHES OF THE CENTRAL PACIFIC 



519 



40° N. latitude, and between 150° and 170° E. 

 longitude. Fishing is carried on at this time 

 north to 45° but, with the advent of winter 

 weather, the fishery moves south to the vicinity 

 of 30° wlicre good fishing is found in December and 

 January. In addition to tiiis offshore fishery 

 there are inshore fisheries around southern Japan 

 and the Bonin Islands, some of which are produc- 

 tive the year round. 



The swordfish is generally considered to be an 

 inhabitant of warm seas throughout the world, 

 but its distribution in the western Pacific suggests 

 that the adults prefer the cooler waters. Kikawa 

 (1954) noted that they are only sporadically cap- 

 tured in tropic seas, and this is in agreement with 

 POFI experience (fig. 22) and with the results of 

 the Japanese tuna mothership expeditions to the 

 Caroline Islands area in 1950-51. In the latter. 

 Van Campen (1952) reported that the average 

 catch rate of swordfish for all expeditions was less 

 than .01 per 100 hooks, whereas catch rates off 

 northeastern Japan average nearly 1.0 per 100 

 hooks (Kikawa 1954). 



Nakamura et al. (1951) think that the tropics 

 are the spawning grounds of the swordfish, and 

 noted therefrom the capture of juveniles less than 

 30 mm. in length and numerous larvae in the 

 stomachs of other fish. They also reported that 

 the longline catches in the equatorial area are pre- 

 dominantly fish from 50 to 100 cm. in length 

 (orbit to fork of tail). In addition, all of the fish 

 in the northern fishery have undeveloped gonads. 

 The presence of small fish in the equatorial area 

 is substantiated by the reports from the Japanese 

 mothership expeditions to the Caroline Islands 

 where, according to Ego and Otsu (1952), the 

 weight of the swordfish captured during each 

 of the first six expeditions ranged from 58 to 102 

 pounds. 



Such catches of large and small swordfish are 

 in accord with the limited POFI experience, for 

 the largest of the three taken in tropical waters on 

 which size data are available was only 80 pounds. 

 The other two were very small, each only 92 cm. 

 long. We also have notes on two small swordfish 

 taken from the stomachs of Makaira ampla: one 

 of 35 cm. taken on May 18, 1954, at 6°02' N., 

 162°28' W. and another of 38 cm. taken on May 

 28, 1954, at 6°02' N., 159°34' W. On the other 

 hand, the two specimens taken north of Hawaii 



453062 O — 58 4 



were each large, more than 300 cm. total length. 



Swordfish landed in the Honolulu market (table 

 2) ranged from 75 to 1,061 pounds, according to 

 the records collected during 1949 and 1950 by the 

 Hawaiian Division of Fish and Game. There 

 was no pronounced mode in this weight distribu- 

 tion. 



Additional insight into the habits of the sword- 

 fish is available from Kikawa's (1954) account of 

 the methods used in the Japanese fisherj'. Most 

 of the swordfish are taken by vessels specializing 

 in the fishery that use longline gear similar to tuna 

 gear. The principal difference is in the mode of 

 operation, for these swordfish vessels fish at night 

 when the catch rate is approximately twice what 

 it is in the daytime. Such a difference in the 

 habits of the broadbill makes it difficult to com- 

 pare these catches with the abundance in other 

 parts of the Pacific, where swordfish are taken by 

 tuna vessels that fish entirely during the day. 



Table 2. — Weight frequency of swordfish, Xiphias gladius, 

 landed at the Honolulu market during 1949 and 1950 



[Data collected by the Hawaiian Division of Fish and Qame] 



