4. Prog r ess of the Investigations 



The technician in charge, his assistant, and 12 crew members left Palao 

 aboard the Zuiho Maru at 9:00 A.M. on October 28. The party stopped at Yap 

 en route to pick up four bait live-boxes which had been left in the care of 

 the Yap District government office. Leaving Yap at 8:00 A.M. on October 30, 

 the party made cceanographical observations en route to Saipan and released 

 120 drift bottles. At 4:00 P.M. on November 2 the vessel arrived at Tinian 

 where it remained at anchor over night, leaving the following morning at 

 five o'clock for Saipan where it moored at Tanapag Harbor at 8:00 A.M. On 

 the following day, the 4.th, the members of the skipjack fishermen's asso- 

 ciation gathered at the government offices tc hold a conference on the bait 

 problem. Ve heard the opinions of the fishermen and made arrangements 

 concerning the investigation. On the 5th we negotiated with the Nanko 

 Fishing Company for the use of th» No. 1 Ebisu Laru and the Sakigake Maru 

 to carry on the investigation and made preparations for our operations. 

 As shown in the accompanying table of the progress of the investigation, 

 we began our work on November 6 and ended it on November 23„ During this 

 time we spent 14. days in actual operations, of which 2 days were devoted 

 to oceanograohical observations. 



After the completion of the investigation we were scheduled to return 

 to headquarters aboard the Zuih5 Maru, but that vessel proceeded to Japan 

 for repairs and inspection and the members of the expedition left Saipan 

 for Palao aboard the Yarns shiro Maru on December 3. 



The results of this investigation (see the accompanying table) may 

 be sumrarized as follows. On November 6 at a station 1-1/2 miles west 

 of the Saipan government pier the light brought in only a few flyingfish 

 (2.4- inches long) and no other bait fish. On the 7th in front of the 

 sugar mill at Tinian a few t obero (1.2 inches long) came in, but not 

 enough to justify using the stick-held dipnet. On the 9th in front of 

 the government pier at Tinian the light brought in about one scoop of 

 t obero (1.2 inches long), but we did not use the net. On the 10th at 

 Magicienne Eay only a few shiirs (.8 to .9 inch long) came in, not enough 

 to net. On the llt v at the new harbor on Tinian only a few small scrimp 

 (kpmase) were attracted. On the 15th at Tanapag Harbor at Saipan a few 

 t cber 3 (1.2 inches long), aoesa /"probably Harengula schranr.i 7 

 (.2 to .9 inch long), and ojisan (.8 tc .9 inch long) were attracted. 

 At deeper level there were some gatsun ( hiraa.ji ) /~carangids_7 and 

 m izun ( urumeiwashi ) / perhaps Harengula ovalis (Bennett )7 (both about 

 08 inches long) but not enough to net. On the_l6th off Mutcho Point 

 a small number of gatsun ( hiraa.ji ) / carangids_7 were attracted. On the 

 21st at the sugar mill at Tinian about one scoop of tobero (1.2 inches 

 long) came in, and the next day we operated the stick-held bait net 

 there, taking only one small scoop of mixed tobero (1.2 inches long), 

 b'ka (.7 to 08 inch long), and akaesa (.7 to .8 inch long) /"probably 

 apogonids or caesionids/, rot enough to use as bait. On the 25th the 

 fishermen, who had n awaiting the arrival of the akamuro /"probably 

 Caesio chrysozenus 7, announced that these fish had come into the 

 vicinity of the Garapan channel. All of the skipjack boats immediately 

 went out and took the fish with bag-nets. On the 26th we made a 

 trial with the light near the Garapan channel and attracted a 



