Tests were conducted under supervision of the Service's Technology Lab- 

 cratorj' at Seattle to determine the suitability of gill-net-caught albacore for 

 canning. Although the results of this one series of tests cannot be considered 

 conclusive, there was no great difference distinquishable between packs of troll- 

 caught albacore and gill-net-caug,ht albacore taken fron the Cobb's catch and 

 canned under identical conditions. 



FIGURE 22 - ABOUT 25 PER CENT OF THE GILL-NET FISH TAKEN WERE DAMAGED EITHER DI- 

 RECTLY BY THE NETS, OR I N A FEW CASES EATEN BY SHARKS. 



Vertical Distribution and Mesh Size 



By far the majority of albacore taken in gill nets were caught in the 

 meshes near the surface or between one and three fathoms depth. Several, however, 

 did occur in the meshes near the lead line, which was one hundred meshes deep. 

 The mesh sizes were Vg inches, 8g inches, and 9^ inches (stretched measurenient). 

 Table 5 shows the number of albacore taken with relation to each mesh size. Ob- 

 servations for June 24 and 25 are missing. It appears that the Vg- and Sg-inch 

 nylcn and linen is equally effective for the size albacore in this region, while 

 the 95-inch meshes apparently are more selective to the larger fish. 



Table 5, — N\jmber of albacore taken in each size mesh 



29 



