has established a freezing plant there. In the spring of 1!)65. 

 with the cooperation of the High Commissioner of the Trust 

 Territory and the American firm there, the Bureau's Lab- 

 oratory in Honolulu stationed an observer at Palau to 

 document the resumption of the fishery at a commercial 

 level. The data from the Trust Territory should offer an 

 interesting supplement to those gained from the other U. S. 

 skipjack fisheries and of Japan. 



The Youngest Tunas 



Our Laboratory has collected more than 3,000 samples of 

 larval and juvenile tunas from the Pacific. Walter M. 

 Matsumoto is identifying these fish and preparing charts 

 of their distribution. He has also studied the larval phases 

 of other fishes, recently completing a description of the 

 larval and juvenile stages of the vvahoo ( AvunthocijbiiiDi 

 solandri), one of the scombrids closely related to the tunas. 



Towards the end of the reporting period, Matsumoto has 

 been investigating improved methods of collecting juvenile 

 tunas (fig. 14). Often found near the surface, they have 

 proved to be the most elusive of fish, escaping capture so 

 readily that much of the information on them comes not 

 from nets operated by scientists but from the stomachs of 

 those more experienced collectors — the larger fish. 



About 550 million i)Ounds of skipjack tuna are taken an- 

 nually in the Pacific Ocean. The resource may be able t(] 

 withstand a heavier rate of fishing. At present, however. 

 skipjack remain (e.xcept in Hawaii) a secondary resource. 

 They are taken in the eastern Pacific along with and as a 

 supplement to or substitute for the more highly valued 

 yellowfin. In Japan, skipjack suijplement catches of the 

 most prized of the tunas, the albacore. the other si)ecies 

 upon which the Bureau's Laboratory in Honolulu is e-xpenil- 

 ing a considerable share of its research effort. 



The Prized Albacore 



Honolulu is one of the most cosmopolitan of .American 

 cities. Its cuisine reflects its various cultures. The diet 



ranges from poi to trench fries to kasha, from taro leaves to 

 spinach to bak choi. There is a particularly wide varietx 

 of sea foods, both locally caught and imported. The visitor 

 to the fresh-fish market finds a profusion of fishes for sale, 

 from the slender, silvery wahoo to the enameled splendor of 

 the red and blue and green reef fishes. 



Much of the product of the fresh-fish market is supplied 

 by the Hawaiian longline fishery. Although Honolulu is 

 located in a region fished successfully by the Japanese long- 

 iiners, the Hawaiian longline fleet, composed of small vessels. 

 stays close to shore, rarel\' losing sight of land. Only in 

 recent years have some of the ships, with the encourage- 

 ment of our Laboratory, ventured 200 or 300 miles to sea. 

 where in some seasons they were rewarded by catches four 

 and five times as great as those taken nearer shore. 



Tunas make up the bulk of the Hawaiian longline catch: 

 bigeye and yellowfin account for more than half. Only a 

 few albacore are caught (about 8 tons in 1962), but these, 

 it turns out. are uniquely important to science, for the\' 

 provide key information on the history and habits of this 

 valuable species. 



Highly regarded as a food fish because of its tiavor. 

 te.xture, and color, the alljacore is found in all the world's 

 oceans except the Arctic. The Pacific catch is the world's 

 largest. In 1963, Japan, fishing in three oceans, took 127,300 

 tons of albacore. Of these. 77.400 came from the Pacific. 

 The United States, which has the onl>- other large fishery, 

 took 30,300 tons in an area that reached from Ba.ja California 

 to the Pacific Northwest and several hundred miles to sea. 



Tagging studies have proved that the United States and 

 Japanese albacore catches in the North Pacific are related. 

 Working with data from these studies and the catch. Tamio 

 Otsu of our Laboi'ator\' has depicted a complex pattern of 

 migrations. Though nianx' features are still obscure, in broad 

 terms this investigation showed that the albacore are 

 siiawned in tropical and subtropical waters, migrate to 



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