February 



During the first ten days of the month the weather was bad and it was 

 difficult to fish off the east side of the islands ao we occupied the 

 time chiefly in making a bait study inside the reef off Arakabesan„ At 

 the same time we went out to fish off ^st Passage, but we had to give 

 this up because the NE trades were stronger than during the previous 

 months, the sea was rough,, and it was difficult to operate the boat„ 

 Consequently our catch during this period was almost nilj, and in the second 

 ten days of the month we sighted almost no schools„ We caught fish only 

 once off West Passage j, and wasted a lot of time„ During the last ten days 

 of the month we did almost all of our fishing off the east side near the 

 passage,, Although the wind was still strong and the sea was still rough, 

 we made fairly good catches „ At that time the sea water temperature was 

 around 28,5 degrees, 



March 



In the first ten days we centered our fishing operations around the 

 vicinity of Malakal Passage, The schools were swimming fast and took the 

 bait pooriyo During the second ten days the weather was continually 

 stormy and the schools disappeared so we made no catch „ We made a bait 

 survey around Ogurutaageru Passage and Denges Passage o 



During the last ten days schools were numerous off the west coast and 

 we took quite a few fish„ As indicated above 3 the weather was bad during 

 the period of the investigations, there were many stormSj days of operation 

 were few, and the results we obtained were not good. 



Conclusions 



This year's investigationSj, as indicated above, took few fish and 

 did not produce the results anticipated because the personnel were in- 

 experienced, unaccustomed to the fishing grounds, and not thoroughly 

 familiar with the type of schools encountered. Furthermore, the weather 

 was bad and it was not possible to operate as we had planned, however, 

 schools were abundant and it can be hoped that in the future, with further 

 experience and study, these fishing grounds can be fully developed. 



Skipjack Fishery Investigation 1927 



This investigation was a continuation of that of the previous year. 

 Preparations were made during December of this year and operations were 

 begun in January 1928, 



Progress 



January 



The fishing ground was chiefly off Malakal Passage,, The northeast 

 wind blew continually, and rough seas made operating difficult,, Schools 

 were numerous, but they took the bait badly, and when they were swimming 

 fast we were sometimes unable to hook any fish. Some catch waSj, however, 



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