The above material has been extracted from a skipjack fishing log kept 

 by Mr. Zenkuro Kawakami of zhe Nanko Fishing Company from September to 

 November, 1935= 



9 Conclusions 



The period covered by this investigation coincided with the trade 

 wind season at Saipan, and winds of forces ranging from gentle to violent 

 blew constantly. The sea was rough and we eould not carry out experiments 

 on the use of a light to attract bait fish in the offshore waters. 

 Consequently, we were unfortunately unable to survey the following six 

 areas which had been scheduled after consultation with the skipjack fisher- 

 men at the beginning of operations s (l) 3-5 miles off Maniagasha I. 

 (2) Mozone (3) A miles E of Nafutan Pt. U) off Donnay (5) Marpi sone 

 (6) Shija sone. We were forced to restrict our survey to places which 

 were sheltered from the northeast winds such as the Saipan harbor works, 

 the Garapan channel, off the Tinian sugar mill, and Magicienne Bay. The 

 progress of the investigation is shown in the foregoing table. Adverse 

 weather and other causes limited our days of operation to twelve, 

 however, our results, combined with those of a survey made by the Nanko 

 Fishing Company in 1935, indicate the following facts? 



1. In the waters around Saipan (excepting the offshore waters) from 

 September to November there are no bait fish suitable for use as skipjack 

 bait except urume iwashi £ may be Harengula ovalis ij and hiraaji 



(_ earangids^/. 



2. The urume iwashi and hiraaji which occur during these three months are 

 too large to be suitable for skipjack bait, but would be good for tuna bait. 



3. During these three months the tarekuchi /probably Engraulis heterolobus/, 

 shiira /probably Stolephorus delicatulus7 . to bero /?/, and baka /?/ are seen, 

 but not in quantities adequate for use as baito 



According to the local skipjack fishermen, last year in June, July, and 

 August schools of tarekuchi were seen in the offshore waters on the skipjack 

 grounds, but this year the; ; did not appear at all. This indicates perhaps 

 that the tarekuchi , like the akamuro, does not come into Saipan waters 

 every year but irregularly. In these three months the sea is calm and it 

 is thought that it would perhaps be possible to experiment with attracting 

 these fish with a light and taking them with a stick-held dipnot or a 

 Haehida net, however, during this period the baka and shiira provide 

 sufficient bait and it is thought that there is no necessity for such an 

 experiment o 



On the basis of the above facts it is thought that the best solution 

 to the problem of the enforced idleness of the skipjack fishermen caused by 

 the lack of bait during the half of the year from September to February 

 would be for the boats to switch over to tuna fishing using for bait the 

 urume iwashi and hiraaji , which can be taken during this period and which 

 appear to occur in a fair abundance. It is, however, necessary to study 

 further the possible methods of putting this proposal into execution. 



15 



