evidence suggests the Hawaiian Lslaiuis may be only on 

 the eastern fringe of them. 



Yoshida's work also hints at varying seasonal and annual 

 abundances of the juvenile albacore in Hawaiian waters. 



O'- 



W- 



20*s 



ao's.- 



1954 





170*E. 180* 17 



TONGA 

 IS. 



MARQUESAS 

 IS 



O" W ISO* IW 130° 1^0' W. 



V' 



1964 



10*- 



20* 



V 



30«S.- 



FlJh 

 IS* 



MARQUESAS 

 IS 



•SAMOA IS 



TONGA 

 IS. ; 



P%. 



^1 



170° E. 180' 170° 160° 150' 140» iy)« 1^0* TC 



tlCrLRE 16. The iireu fishfd for Iuiiuti bv ^e»!ieU ha!«eH 

 ill Aiiii'riruii Sniilou has fxpandi'il gr4-atl> >inrf operation!' 

 lM><;aii ill 19,>l. It iioM r€*arlir> cast of \\\v MariiiH-*a?« 

 iHlaiul^. The lU^K Laboral<ir% in lli>iioliiJu niailitaill> a lii-lil 

 station tlitTi*, a> it aUo doc? at Paiaii in llii- 'I'ru^t Ti-rritor.f 

 f>f the Purifir lKlan(l>. Darker shaitiii^ in the fif;tire« al>o\4' 

 (ll*|liel> areu> of heu\ie>t eateh. 



A New Fishery 



The North Pacific albacore fishery is relatively old, dating 

 back to the turn of the century at least. The albacore fishery 

 of the South Pacific was established'only 11 years ago. The 

 most important operations are based in American Samoa, 

 where one American firm established a cannery in 1954. 

 another in 1963. 



Starting modestly with 7 Japanese tuna boats in 1954. 

 the fishery grew to a total of about 100 vessels in 1963. In 

 December 1964, 68 vessels from three nations were operat- 

 ing; 40 vessels were from Japan. 17 from South Korea. 11 

 from Taiwan. 



The growth of the South Pacific fishery has been a matter 

 of extreme interest to the Bureau's Laboratory in Honolulu. 

 Samoa provides a rare opportunity to study the early history 

 of a considerable commercial fishery. As a result, the 

 Laboratory, through the cooperation of the Governor of 

 American Samoa and the American firm there, established 

 a field station at Pago Pago in 1963. Manned by observers 

 from our Laboratory, the field station is effective not only 

 in obtaining biological samples of the catches, but also in 

 collecting catch and operational data from the vessel opera- 

 tors who deliver their catches to the canneries. These data 

 are transmitted to Honolulu, where Otsu is preparing a com- 

 (H-ehensive report on the Samoan fishery. 



The fishery has expanded rapidly. Figure 16 shows the 

 fishing area in 1954, and in 1964, when the vessels were 

 fishing in an area from the Equator to as far south as 30 , 

 the latitude of mid-Australia, and from slightly east of the 

 international date line to long. 120 W.. south of San Fran- 

 cisco. The area covers about 8 million square miles and takes 

 the vessels as far as 3,000 nautical miles from their base. 



The fishermen gear their efforts toward capturing the 

 ])rofitable albacore. The albacore catch increased from about 

 360 tons in 1954 to 14,900 in 1963, but dropped to 11,700 

 in 1964. Figure 17 shows the total annual landings of 



22 



