Some of the fishj particularly skipjack and dolphin, threshed 

 violently when landed on the deck, A light canvas was thrown over the 

 dolphin while the hook was being removed An attempt was made to 

 anesthetize skipjack to facilitate the removal of the hook, by placing 

 them in a 1-percent solution of urethane (Gerking 1949) which was 

 contained in a tank on deckc. Five fish were tried„ but all diedo 

 Further attempts at using urethane were not made because of the dif- 

 ficulty of working on a plunging deckj of overcoming the large oxygen 

 demand of the urethane solutionp and of keeping the solution at the 

 same temperature as the seawater (about 25°C„ ) when exposed to the 

 hot suno 



The livewell of the Salpa (figo 3) is built within the hull 

 with an opening on deckj and its interior is painted whiteo It is 

 67g- X 43 X 32 inches, with a square opening of 30 x 30 x 7 inches ^ the 

 upper part of which is flush with the decko Above deck^ the opening 

 is encased to a height of 10 inches with a removable square frame^ the 

 top of which has a cover of spaced wooden slats. When full, the live- 

 well holds 424 gallons of seawater^ The water is pumped to an inlet 

 at the bottom of the tank at a rate of between 20 and 40 gallons per 

 minute^ depending on the mechanical condition of the pump and the speed 

 of the ship's engine when under wayo When the engine is idlings the 

 rate of flow is much less--about 5 gallons per minute. The outlet is 

 just below deck level, part way up the after side of the opening. The 

 relatively small exposed area of water surface prevents excessive 

 slopping of the water in the well when the ship is heavingo On occasionj, 

 particularly when several fish were in the well^ or when the pump was 

 not operating to capacity, oxygen was bubbled into it by means of two 

 gas disseminators connected by rubber hose to a large tank of compressed 

 oxygen. This procedure is believed to have maintained the oxygen ten- 

 sion in the well at a high level, although no measurements were made. 



After noting that the tunas, in particular, tended to bump 

 the comers of the well, baffles (18 x 32 inches) were placed across 

 the cornerso The resulting octagonal shape of the well induced the 

 fish to travel in a circle, and considerably reduced the tendency to 

 bump the sideso 



Skipjack 



Attempts at transporting skipjack were unsuccessfulc When 

 landed, many of the fish gave convulsive shudders^ bled at the gills, 

 and died within 3 or 4 minutes Those which did not behave in this 

 fashion and were placed in the livewell, swam rapidly (at more than 6 

 feet per second) and frequently rammed head-on into the sides. The 

 behavior can best be described as "frantic," After they rammed the 

 sides, they would sink slowly to the bottom of the tank,, recover, and 

 repeat the performance until they diedo Frequently they would bleed 

 at the gills and this would temporarily pollute the water. Those 

 which did not ram the sides after the baffles were used, swam rapidly 

 and frantically until they reached a state of exhaustion and died> All 

 fish, except one, died within 10 minutes after being placed in the 

 livewell; oxygen, when used as described above, did not help to any 

 noticeable extent. 



