TUNAS AND TUNA FISHERIES OF THE WORLD: AN ANNOTATED 



BIBLIOGRAPHY, 1930-53 



By Wilvan G. Van Campen, Translator, and Earl E. Hoven, Librarian, 

 Pacific Oceanic Fishery Investigations 



This bibliography is an expansion and continua- 

 tion of that compiled by Shimada (1951) for the 

 biology of the Pacific tunas. It covers the period 

 from the publication of the tuna bibliography of 

 Corwin (1930j to 1953, inclusive, and its geogra- 

 phical scope is world-wide. It incorporates all of 

 Shimada's material except that which antedates 

 1930. 



The subject matter of the bibliography comprises 

 all aspects of the biology of the tunas as well as 

 the tuna fisheries, fishing methods and gear, fish- 

 ery statistics, laws, and regulations. The subject 

 index following the bibliography provides a de- 

 tailed outline of its content. Papers dealing 

 exclusively with processing technology, fishery 

 economics and marketing, and material of purely 

 literary or folkloric interest have been excluded. 



The compilers have considei-ed as tunas most of 

 the scombroid fishes ordinarily so-called: the alba- 

 core (Genno), the bluefin {Thunnus tlujnnus) or 

 black tuna {T. orientalis) , the yellowfin (Neothun- 

 nus), the oceanic skipjack or striped tuna (Kafsu- 

 wonus), the bigeye and blackfin tunas {Parathun- 

 nus), and the Australian T. tonggol and T- mac- 

 coyii. The frigate mackerels {Auxis) and the 

 little tunnies or black skipjack {Euthynnus) have 

 been included, but the bonitos of the genus Sarda 

 have not. The compilers were spared having to 

 make any arbitrary decisions as to the status as 

 tunas of such borderline cases as the dogtoothed 

 tuna {G\jmnosarda) , the oriental bonito {Kishino- 

 ella), and the Spanish mackerels (Scomberomorus) 

 by the circumstance of their not finding any papers 

 exclusively concerned with these fishes. Needless 

 to say, the choice of scientific names used in 

 indexing the bibliography is not meant to reflect 

 any taxonomic judgments but is based solely on 

 considerations of convenience and familiarity. The 

 scientific names employed in the various papers 

 are cited without change in the annotations, but 

 have been cross-referred to the appropriate category 

 in the index where there seemed to be no doubt 

 as to the synonymy. 



The bibliography is a selective one, not only in 

 the subject matter of the papers cited, but also with 

 respect to their importance. While it has been im- 

 possible to set up hard-and-fast criteria of signifi- 

 cance, every effort has been made to exclude 

 material of an ephemeral or superficial nature, 

 without overlooking any real contributions to 

 knowledge concerning the tunas and their fisheries. 

 In fields and areas where the literature is com- 

 paratively rich, it was possible to be more dis- 

 criminating; in others more sparsely documented, 

 the compilers had to take whatever they could find. 

 In one case, that of the sizeable mass of annual 

 Progress Reports covering semi-commercial fishing 

 cruises by Japanese prefectural research vessels, 

 which are published year after year with little 

 variation in content, only representative samples 

 of the more recent and comprehensive reports from 

 each Prefecture have been included. In general, 

 the compilers have sought papers of a solid scien- 

 tific character, but such sources as fishery trade 

 journals have not been passed over when they 

 presented new information not more thoroughly 

 covered elsewhere. Because of the inclusion of 

 a number of papers which the compilers were 

 unable to examine, it is possible that some items of 

 little value have found their way into the collec- 

 tion. As completeness is a bibliographer's ideal 

 most difficult of attainment, there may well be 

 some important contributions that have evaded our 

 search. 



Annotations, following in general the pattern of 

 those in Shimada's work, have been supplied for 

 all items. The purpose is not to assess the value 

 or reliability of the paper, but to give a clearer 

 notion of content than can be gathered from a 

 title. Papers which the compilers were not able 

 to examine have the annotation limited to a state- 

 ment of the categories under which the item was 

 indexed. Some unevenness of treatment in the 

 annotations is due to the fact that the compilers 

 tried to annotate a little more fully than Shimada, 

 but were under the necessity of borrowing his an- 



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