Report of a Skipjack Bait Investigation in Gaipan 'Tatars 



1 „ Purpose and Scops c£ the Investigation 



According to the 1935 report of the Saipan District of the South Seas 

 Government-General, the tuna fishery in that district in 1935 employed 19 

 skipjack boats an;". 9 tuna boats, which produced a catch . _. , , 1,923,000 



kilograms and valued at 456,000 yen. This is the most important fishery 

 of the area, and there is much room for- its future development. Almost 

 all of the catch is made ' : ic h 

 product :f the Nanko Fishing Company enjoys a ver^ 

 Japan. The value of bhe fish-stic] ;-:cY^J is 400,000 yen, anc plans 

 are being made fcr the further expansion of this Industry. 



Since this island is lot blessed fith an abundant natural supply of 

 the bait fish which are so essential tc the skipjack fishery, unlike Palao 

 .hire fishing can be carried on all ; r c-a~ round, during roughly half of 

 the year froir Septembe: tc Februai " the fishermen are fore.-' "— the scar- 

 cit; of bait to sit idly b; and ;at< lar ;e scl sols of skipjack offshpreo 

 During recent years bhere has I 3en a ^-^^vic;- in this slac] peripd for 

 the fishermen tc go be nrork ua laborers on the sugar plantation of the 

 South Sea Development Company or to go away tc other islands < If Wishing 

 could be carried on tl si year round, + h- present production could probably 

 be doubled and the fishermen could 1 j rescued from their difficult 

 circumstances. 



For several years nersons in the fishing business at Saipan have 

 been "anting the rjs^re' static.' tc undertake an investigation which 

 might produce see solution to this annoying problem of bait scarcity. 

 It happened that in the period froir October to December of this year we 

 were to have engaged in a fisheri s ' ivestigation in foreign raters, but 

 this operation was called off because oJ bhe effeets of the China Incident, 

 and the tire was devoted instead to a bait survey at Saipan. Conse [asntly, 

 the period of this survey was not cri c ir:a_ ly selected as the time for such 

 a study, and as it coincided with the trade wind season at Saipan the 



gl Beas made it impossible to carry out a thorough 

 investigation*, a c±i :um! an Lch * s indeed regrettable. 



2 „ gresent Situation 



The following is a descriptioi ' % it fish situation at Saipan 



T7ith regard to eac 1 - the species used. (The commor ia v^ of the fish 

 ai e bhose used by Okinawan fishermen.) 



(?.) baka (co^ or ime) / S~ rierhorus oelicatulus (Eennett)_/ 



This is the most important skipjack bait fish at Saipan. It reaches 

 a length of a v 3ut n , . tc 2.4 ii ches. It occurs on th ' a b sic.e of the 

 island everywhere outside the i j Garaoan to Charankanoa, on the 



north :,' \ rom the harbpi orks to Gunkan £ Maniagasha_7 Island, on the 

 east side in the vici' it- of Magicienne fay, and also at Tinia-i and 

 P.ota. It ir foTind fc . out the "ear, but it is least abundant in 



November and December. This fish . awns each year beginning in January 

 and at this time is wort) less as bait, so for this reason and in order 



