During the day they hide in crevices in the reefs, becoming more 

 active in the evening and at night, and returning to their holes early 

 in the morning„ When a net is put over thelreef where they live about 

 sundovm and hauled the following morning when the fish are concentrated 

 over the net after returning from their nocturnal food migrations, they 

 can easily be taken„ These fish are too small to be good for baiting 

 hooks, but they are taken well by the fish and occur ia the reefs the year 

 round so they can be very well utilized when no other bait is available „ 

 These fish also survive well„ 



Other Mis cellaneous Fish 



All of the small fish and Juvenile fish which occur in the reefs 

 can be used as baitj but they are sparsely scattered and it is difficult 

 to take them in large quantitieSo 



Skipjack Investigation 



Between September 1925 and the first half of 1926 the survey of 

 fishing grounds was generally completed^ and in November 1926 the inves- 

 tigation of the skipjack fishery was definitely beguno 



Research Vessel ' 



Hakuo Maru 11 tons 20 HP 

 Fishermen 13 



Fishing Gear 



ordinary skipjack pole-fishing gear 



Progress of the Investigation 



The distribution of the schools, oceanographical conditions, and so 

 forth could be inferred to be the same as in the previous year's investi- 

 gation j but since this was the first study of the practical aspects of the 

 fishery, it remained to be ascertained which of the fishing grounds were 

 best. 



January 



Ik fished outside the Malakal Passage „ Schools were fairly plentiful, 

 but the northeast trades blew strongly and the weather was bad, making 

 operations markedly unpleasanto Furthermore the color of nhe water was 

 bad, the schools were swimming at high speed, and the fish took the bait 

 very poorly. As a result we were not successful in our fishing. At first 

 we took hira iwashi, akamuroj and akadoro inside Walakal Harbor for bait, 

 but gradually bait became scarce in. that area and we shifted our operations 

 to the west coast, taking aka doro in the West Passage and the Arumonogui 

 areao The area outside the passage was sheltered from the trade wind and 

 the sea was calmo We sighted a fair number of schools, bvt they did not 

 take the bait well and our catch showed no improvement„ During the month 

 we took only a little over 300 fish„ 



u 



