STATUS OF THE FISHERY FOR TUNAS OF THE TEMFERATE 

 WATERS OF THE EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC ( ABSTRACT) 



by 



Harold B. Clemens 1/ 



PACIFIC ALBACORK 



The albacore fishery in the northeastern Pacific is a seasonal one, and ranges 

 from southern Baja California to Alaska within 1;00 miles of the coast. On the average, 

 however, a majority of the albacore are landed in California. 



The dominant feature of the California landings is large year-to-year fluctua- 

 tions. For example, landings dropped from Uj million pounds in 1957 to 27 million in 

 1958. These fluctuations are caused by changes in abundance of fish, availability, fish- 

 ing intensity, and environmental conditions. California's data show that for the past 

 several years the abundance of albacore has remained high, availability has varied greatly, 

 and fishing intensity has declined steadily. 



In 1958, the albacore run occurred much 

 farther to the north than it had since 1951 

 when we first started analyzing log records 

 kept by fishermen. The run swept through 

 the San Juan Seamount area (over 100 miles 

 west of San Clemente Is.) and the Baja 

 California fishing grounds, which usually 

 produce heavy catches, failed. 



The California Department of Fish and 

 Game predicted this failure on the basis of 

 changing sea surface temperatures. There 

 are many other things that affect the dis- 

 tribution and catch of fish, and until we 

 are equipped to measure and take into 

 account all of these variables, our predic- 

 tions will not be perfect. Meanwhile, we 

 will continue to do what we can with the 

 data at hand, to help fishermen locate good 

 fishing areas. 



We are also studying the albacore pop- 

 ulation structure, migration routes, and 

 rates of growth by means of tagging. Re- 

 coveries of tagged albacore within the west 

 coast fishery reveal a northward migration 

 as the season advances. Our tags also have 

 been recovered in the central Pacific and 

 in the western Pacific off the Japanese 



1/ Associate Marine Biologist, California 

 Department of Fish and Game, Terminal 

 Island, California. 



coast. If we omit all tags recovered in 

 the west coast fishery during any one fish- 

 ing season, we find that of the remainder, 

 7 percent were recaptured in the central 

 Pacific, 21 percent off Japan, 62 percent 

 in our coastal fishery the second season, 

 and 10 percent in our fishery the third 

 season. 



A comparison of sizes of albacore 

 caught in the three major north Pacific 

 fisheries shows that on the average our 

 coastal fishery depends to a large ex- 

 tent on 13-pound fish, the Japanese coastal 

 fishery on 28 pounders, and the central 

 Facific longline fishery on 20-pound fish. 



Our conclusions are: 



1. We have found no measurable evi- 

 dence of overfishing. 



2. Our west coast fishery depends on 

 the survival of young albacore in 

 any one year, and their availa- 

 bility when they move inshore 

 along the coast. 



3. Major shifts in location of a 

 season' s albacore run have been 

 predicted on the basis of sea 

 surface temperatures. 



41 



