Campos Rosado 1972). Landings of Aujris from Angola 

 in 195.i-76 varied from 500 to 7,300 t and averaged 2,000 

 t (Table 26). 



Ghana's modern fishing fleet and industry, which 

 developed only since the early 1960's, are probably the 

 best among African nations (Di Palma 1968). Di Palma 

 observed that confusion exists in the catch statistics on 

 mackerels and scads because some boats do not differen- 

 tiate between the various species. For example, several 

 species may be reported together including mackerel. 

 Scorn her japonicus, various species of horse mackerels of 

 the family Carangidae, Auxis, and mackerel scad, 

 Decapterus rhuncus. Miyake et al.'" reported that 

 Ghana's landings of Auxis by unclassified gear varied 

 between 1,800 and 5,300 t and averaged 3,160 t in 1968- 

 72. In 1965-76, Ghana's annual catch of Auxis varied 

 from 1,600 to 6,300 t and averaged 3,400 t (Table 26). 



Japan's resurgence as a fishing power after World War 

 II was not restricted to the Pacific and Indian Oceans. 

 Japanese tuna longliners first made their appearance in 

 the Atlantic in 1957 and by 1961 at least 60 vessels were 

 fishing there for yellowfin tuna and albacore (Borgstrom 

 1964). In 1962, the Japanese placed pole-and-line fishing 

 boats of 239 gross tons each in Ghana to fish for surface 

 schools of tuna. Yellowfin and skipjack tunas are the 

 main species landed by these Japanese bait boats but 

 Auxis and bigeye tuna are also taken in limited quan- 

 tities (Shomura 1966; Hayasi 1973). Three or four 

 Japanese purse seiners and five to seven pole-and-line 

 (14 in 1972) boats operated in the Atlantic Ocean in 

 1962-63 and in 1967-72. 



Tema, with excellent shore facilities, including cold 

 storage, serves as a base for Japanese purse seiners, 

 pole-and-line boats, and longliners (Di Palma 1968). 

 Auxis as well as yellowfin, skipjack, and bigeye tunas 

 are caught along the coast of Africa and in coastal 

 waters of the offshore islands in the eastern Atlantic. 



In 1967-73, Japanese seiners landed from 177 to 1,256 

 t of Auxis and averaged 670 t annually (Hayasi 1973, 

 1974). The proportion of the purse seine tuna catch con- 

 sisting of Auxis, however, was small varying from 3'r to 

 15^f in 1969-72. 



Auxis catches by Japanese pole-and-line boats also 

 fluctuated widely in 1967-70 varying between 675 and 

 3,200 t and averaging 1,375 t annually (Hayasi 1973, 

 1974). The proportion of the pole-and-line tuna catch 

 which constitutes /I uxi.s varied widely from an insignifi- 

 cant part of the total pole-and-line tuna landings in 1972 

 to nearly one-third in the 1969 catch. 



Japanese boats fish not only in the eastern but also in 

 the western Atlantic Ocean. The Caribbean region is an 

 important fishing ground for tuna and tunalike fislies 

 including Auxis. Wise and Jones (1971) pointed out that 

 the catches of several species of tunas and related fishes 

 occurring in the Caribbean region are shared by several 



Miyake. M. P.. A. Ue Boisset, and .1. .Manning (compilers). 1974. 

 Statistical bulletin, international Commission for the Conservation of 

 Atlantic Tunas, Vol. 4. ST/Total/74/2 - 13-15 Rev. |No pagination.! 



countries. Japan lands about two-thirds, Cuba and 

 Venezuela each take about one-tenth, and the remain- 

 ing countries, each with <2,000 t annually, land the 

 balance of the catch. Among the species landed, yellow- 

 fin tuna is the most important, contributing slightly 

 over a third of the total landings. Second most impor- 

 tant is the "bonitos" but this category includes few true 

 bonitos and is made up largely of skipjack tuna and 

 blackfin tuna, Thunnus atlanticus, with small amounts 

 of other species such as little tunny and Auxis. Bigeye 

 tuna is third in importance followed by bluefin tuna and 

 albacore. The total landings of Auxis by all Japanese 

 fishing boats operating in the Atlantic varied from 400 

 to 3,200 t and averaged 1,200 t (Table 26). 



In Venezuela, scombrids of commercial interest are 

 Sarda sarda, Auxis, Scomberomorus maculatus (= S. 

 brasiliensis) , S. caualla, and Scomber japonicus (Grif- 

 fiths 1971). The catches of Sarda and Auxis, primarily 

 by baited hooks ("cordel") and gill nets along eastern 

 Venezuela, are grouped in the official statistics into 

 "cabanas." Unfortunately, the proportion of each 

 species in this category is unknown. Griffiths noted that 

 the proportions may be variable among the fishing areas 

 and also with time. "Cabanas" are usually sold fresh 

 locally or salted and sometimes canned as "tuna" or 

 "bonito." In 1953-76, the landings of Auxis fluctuated 

 between 400 and 1,800 t and averaged 1,000 t (Table 

 26). 



A number of other countries, given in Table 26, lists 

 Auxis as among the species they land. Cyprus, Malta, 

 and Yugoslavia are among them but their landings ap- 

 pear to be insignificant. Greece also lands Auiis, but its 

 annual catches are small and appear to be erratic, vary- 

 ing from 500 to 1,200 t and averaging 700 t. Italy's 

 landings are also quite small fluctuating between 400 

 and 1,700 t and averaging 1,000 t annually. 



LITERATURE CITED 



AHLSTROM, E. H. 



1971. Kinds and abundance of fish larvae in the eastern tropical 

 Pacific, based on collections made on EASTROPAC I. Fish. 

 Bull.. U.S. 69;3-77. 



ALVERSON, F. G. 



1963. The food of yellowfin and skipjack tunas in the eastern 



tropical Pacific Ocean. [In Engl, and .Span.] Bull. Inter-Am. 



Trop. Tuna Comm. 7:293-396. 

 ANDERSON, A. W.. W. H. STOLTING. and ASSOCIATES. 



1953. Survey of the domestic tuna industry. U.S. Fish Wildl. 

 Serv., Spec. Sci. Rep. Fish. 104. 436 p. 



BARRETT. I., and A. A. WILLIAMS. 



1965. Hemoglobin content of the blood of fifteen species of marine 

 fishes. Calif. Fish Game 51:216-218. 

 HAS. C. 



1967. La pesca de los escombridos en el litoral Medilerraneo 

 Espafiol. |In Span.) Symp. Scombroid Fishes. Part 111. .Mar. 

 Biol. Assoc. India, Symp. Ser. 1:10091011 

 BAITS. B. S. 



1972. Food habits of the skipjack tuna. Katsuwonus pelamis. in 

 North Carolina waters. Chesapeake Sci. 13:193-200. 



BELLOC, G. 



1954. Les thons de la Mediterranee. Premiere note: germon, 

 pelamide et melva. Proc. Tech. Pap. Gen. Fish. Counc. Medit., 

 FAO 2:283-318. 



57 



