using only wooden goggles to make underwater 

 observations. 



On weekends, he and Aisek's diving crew 

 would then visit certain grounds where they 

 would catch a few buckets of each species of 

 bait, using an Oklnawan bait net. These sam- 

 ples were preserved in Formalin and sent to 

 Dr. John E. Randall of the Bishop Museum for 

 identification. During the 3-month survey, most 

 of the prewar baiting areas were surveyed and 

 bait samples of each species taken. Under- 

 water photos of the bait concentrations were 

 also made. 



AREA DESCRIPTION 

 The Truk Atoll 



Geologists state that 1 to 10 million years 

 ago Truk was one island with Udot the approx- 

 imate center. With the passing of time it has 

 slowly sunk into the sea, leaving several high 

 islands and many low islands within its lagoon. 

 Therefore, by definition, Truk is not a true atoll 

 but an enormous coral ring, ranging in diam- 

 eter from 30 to 40 miles and containing many 

 islands of volcanic origin. Approximately 

 20,000 Trukese live on 16 permanently inhab- 

 ited islands; many other islands are used solely 

 for farming or fishing. 



Moen Island 



Moen Island is the headquarters for the Dis- 

 trict Administration. It is roughly triangular 

 in shape, about 5 miles on a side with an area 

 of about 8.5 square miles. Its population is 

 approximately 5,000. Moen Island, with three 

 major trading companies, is also the business 

 center of the district and the site of the airfield 

 and the only deepwater dock in the lagoon. 



Dublon Island 



Dublon Island is the seat of the former Japa- 

 nese and German government headquarters. 

 Many remnants of the war years remain there. 

 Its land area is roughly 3.7 square miles and its 

 population is approximately 2,000. During the 

 Japanese administration there were approxi- 

 mately 45,000 Japanese living on this island. 

 Utilities, including power, water, and roads, 

 were developed to support this population. 

 Some of the basic support facilities such as 

 the former water system remain in evidence 

 and could be put back into use if funds were 

 made available. 



Tol Island 



Tol is the largest island in the district. It 

 consists of four separate municipalities: Tol 

 Harbor, Pata, Polle, and Wonei. Its total area 

 is about 15 square miles. Its population is 

 approximately 5,000. 



Other Lagoon Islands 



There are a number of other inhabited is- 

 lands within the lagoon but on all of them water, 

 power, docking, and access to Moen are not as 

 favorable as they are on Dublon. 



CLIMATE 



The climate zone is classified as tropical. 

 Temperature averages from 21° to 28° C. The 

 humidity is high, averaging 70% to 80%, and the 

 rainfall averages about 150 inches annually. 

 There is a "dry" season during the period 

 December through March. Truk lies in the belt 

 of the northeast trade winds, which blow for 

 about 4 months out of the year. 



RESULTS 



The bait species deemed most valuable dur- 

 ing the prewar years cannot be taken by the 

 conventional Hawaiian and Palauan methods of 

 baiting. The 1968 bait survey indicated that 

 night lighting for small engraulids such as 

 exist in Patau is unproductive. In addition, 

 shallow water seining for sardines and silver- 

 sides does not yield the amount of good baitfish 

 required to support a commercial skipjack 

 fishery. 



The baitfish of Truk are not located in habi- 

 tats in which a Hawaii- or Palau-trained fish- 

 erman would normally fish. Rather, they are 

 found around coral heads throughout the lagoon. 

 The important species follow: 



FAMILY NAME 

 SCIENTIFIC NAME 

 TRUKESE NAME 

 OKINAWAN NAME 



ENGLISH NAME 



Lutjanidae 



Gymnocaeslo arqenteus 



Ti nika or Tinipu 



Takabe (young) 

 Akamoro (mature) 



Snapper 



This is considered the best bait species in 

 Truk. There are also about four other species 

 of this or a similar genus which are also called 

 takabe but these have not been identified. They 

 reportedly come into the lagoon around May or 



