A Review of the Literature on the Development 



of Skipjack Tuna Fisheries in the Central and 



Western Pacific Ocean 



By 



FRANK J. HESTER and TAMIO OTSU 



National Marine Fisheries Service 



Southwest Fisheries Center 



Honolulu Laboratory 



Honolulu, HI 96812 



ABSTRACT 



There has been a rapid acceleration in efforts to develop skipjack tuna fisheries in the 

 central and western Pacific. This is because the resources of the larger tunas (yellowfin, 

 bigeye, bluefin, and albacore) are already being fished at or near the maximum 

 sustainable level. The greatest potential for increased harvest appears to be the skipjack 

 resource. To assist the skipjack development effort, pertinent information on the subject 

 is summarized and a bibliography of selected references is included. 



INTRODUCTION 



The rapid acceleration of interest in skipjack 

 tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis, fishery development 

 in the central and western Pacific has prompted 

 several exploratory fishing operations in the area 

 beginning in 1971. To aid the development of 

 skipjack tuna fisheries we thought that a review 

 of the literature and a compilation of a 

 bibliography on earlier developmental work 

 would be useful. Most of these references are 

 available in any reasonably large research li- 

 brary or in most fisheries libraries. All are 

 available in the library of the Honolulu Labora- 

 tory of the Southwest Fisheries Center or in its 

 archives and files. Many references dealing with 

 the subject have been omitted, no doubt some 

 through oversight but chiefly because they are 

 incorporated in other documents in our bib- 

 liography. 



The development of a fishery, from the 

 discovery of the resource to the time that full 

 production is reached, can be diagramed. Figure 



1 is a convenient diagram for considering the 

 development of a skipjack fishery in the central 

 and western Pacific. The diagram is complicated 

 by the fact that one of the methods widely used 

 in capturing skipjack tuna requires live bait. 

 Thus we have a fishing method dependent upon 

 another fishery, and it is desirable to consider 

 the development of a fishery for the bait species 

 along with that for skipjack. Hence, a parallel 

 flow chart for the baitfish fishery is included 

 and pertinent references are incorporated. 



There is less literature on the baitfishes used 

 for skipjack fishing in the central and western 

 Pacific than there is on the skipjack. Only in 

 three areas is systematic collection of baitfish 

 information under way, these being Palau, 

 Hawaii, and American Samoa. In both Palau and 

 Hawaii, where substantial skipjack fishing is 

 carried out, baiting records are available for 

 several years, and some research has been or is 

 being conducted to provide a better under- 

 standing of the biology and management of the 

 bait resources. 



