Jiay 



iie fished only a few days this month because of the pressure of other 

 work, but the catch ratio was fairly goodo Catches made during this month 

 at the southern outlying island of Sonsorol using live bait brought down 

 from Palau are thought to have provided especially good information in case 

 the fishery is extended to the vicinity of that is land » 



To summarize„ during the period of this investigation fishing was 

 poorest in Februar/j with iiiarch the second worst month,, while January., 

 Aprilj and iiay were very goodo 



Bait used was chiefly akadoro ; occasionally we used a light at night 

 to attract iwashi which we took with a stick-held dipneto 



Iwashi are easy to take and the fish take them well, but they are 

 hard to keep alive in pounds or in the bait-wells of the fishing boat^p 

 which causes difficulty in using themo If further study can develop 

 suitable methods of capturing and holding these fish, it should provide 

 the solution to the bait problem, in this areao 



As a result of this year's skipjack fishery investigations j, the 

 Okinawan fishermen, who until the beginning of this survey in January 

 and February believed that the canoes which they had been using were the 

 best kind of fishing boats, seeing the good results obtained by the re- 

 search vessel quickly planned a powered fishing boato Construction was 

 begun in April and the boat began to fish in Juneo i'his construction of 

 the first privately operated skipjack boat was the most effective result 

 of our worko 



Skipjack Fishery Investigations 1928 



In the first part of this year the previous year's investigation 

 was continued until Itiayo The work was then discontinued and recoiranenced 

 on January 14, 1929 » 



January 



•fe operated during this month off Wleikal tassage.. The sea was 

 rough, schools were scarce, the temperature of the surface water was low, 

 and there were many days on which it was difficult to operate., *Ve also 

 fished outside fiest Passage where schools were more plentiful than on 

 the east side (off J^ialakal Passage), the sea was calm,, and our fishing 

 was more successful » 



As in the previous year, the bait fishing reefs on the east side 

 were not yet recovered and bait was scarce » 



February 



During the first ten days we used iwashi as bait, taking them with 

 a light and a stick-held dipnet in Malakal Harbor^, but just as in the 



17 



