set, but not on the second, we hauled in the lines after the sun had risen. 

 Our experience in the first set indicated that the fish were probably rather 

 deep, somewhat below 60 meters, but the branch-lines of our longlines, 

 being of the new type, were not that long„ For this reason we took only 

 spearfish and sharks, which swim at comparatively shallow levels o In our 

 second trial the weather and sea conditions seem to have been such as to 

 cause various sorts of fish to swim near the siirface. Vfe saw birds flying 

 in the area and were able to predict in advance the kinds and number of 

 fish which were on the line„ 



On the morning of the next day, the 9th ^ we saw on our starboard side 

 a large school of fish at the surface accompanied by birds, but we did not 

 fish ito We continued southward and at 7^30 A. Mo on the 10th we began our 

 third seto (This was a daytime fishing trialj in our later trials we tried 

 to do all of our fishing at nighto ) From the sea conditions and other con- 

 siderations we expected to make no catch at all, and consequently we set 

 only 50 baskets of lineo The catch was unexpectedly large - 4- yellowfin, 

 3 spearfish, and 3 sharks - and the weight of the fish which were taken 

 was very encoirraging. The set was made at a position near the entrance to 

 the strait between the Solomons and the Santa Cruz Islands, and it is 

 believed that the good results obtained were due to the fact that this 

 strait is a broad highway for migrating fisho It is thought that if, for 

 example, 200 baskets were set every day at dawn and at dusk, this vessel 

 could be loaded to her full capacity of 15,000 kan /"approximately 62 

 tons? in not more than a little over 10 days, and that without much 

 necessity for moving around to different fishing grounds,, 



Oui" vessel reached 9^ south latitude (it was against regulations 

 to go farther south than 11°) and we were able to find good fishing 

 grounds, which made all hands feel cheerful as we turned our course 

 toward the Gilbert ISc, scheduling four fishing stations along the way. 



The fourth set was begun at 3^30 A.1VI„ on the lltho There was light- 

 ning to the east-southeasti, the cloud cover was 9, wind force 2^, and the 

 wind was slightly south of easto There was an east-northeast current 

 with a velocity of approximately 2 knots. After setting the line we 

 lost sight of it and spent about two hours searching for it„ We made a 

 good catch of 13 yellowfin, 2 big-eyed, 1 albacore, 3 spearfish, and 2 

 sharks. The sharks taken were fewer than we had expected, and although 

 the line was in the water a long time none of the fish were damaged by 

 shark bite. The taking of an albacore was of especial interests The 

 catch was about equally distributed among the various baskets of lineo 

 The spearfish which were hooked tangled up the line and from this cir- 

 cumstance it was easily possible to tell in advance while hauling in 

 the line that one of these fish was on ito 



The fifth station was fished beginning at 3:00 PoM. of the same day„ 

 This test was made in order to ascertain whether or not this area is 

 closely related to the migratory path between the Solomons and the Santa 

 Cruz ISo The catch comprised 5 yellowfin, 1 big-eyed, and 1 shark, and 

 the fish were evenly distributed along the lineso The catch was smaller 

 than we had expeetedo While hauling the lines we were visited by 



