conditions are concerned, it appears that the nost suitable boat for all 

 kinds of tuna longline fishing at present is a vessel of standard design 

 in the 95-ton class. If marketing conditions were good, the same thing 

 would of course be true for the Marshall Is. 



The newer types of longlines do not have long and short branch lines, 

 all of the branch lines being of the same length. IT/hen using these lines 

 in the seas of the low latitudes one has the feeling that the branch lines 

 are a good deal too short. As explained at various places in this paper, 

 the level at which the fish swim appears to be 30 or 4.0 fathoms down. As 

 a result, if the fishing does not happen to be done in an area where the 

 schools come up near the surface, one can only wish for longer branch 

 lines. It is not, of course, required that the length of the branches 

 should be approximately the same as the depth of the level at which the 

 fish swim. 



Places where the water flows in and out unceasingly between islands 

 and archipelagos, and sea areas which can be thought to be directly or 

 indirectly related to such places are good fishing grounds. On this 

 cruise we had this experience between the Solomons and the Santa Cruz Is., 

 but this fact has also been recognized previously in the Andaman-Nicobar 

 area of the Indian Ocean, the so-called Eastern Archipelago east of 

 £u:natra and Java, and in other areas. 



A related question is that of the angle at which the lines should 

 be set with relation to the current, and this must be left to the 

 operator's own judgment. The question of whether to haul the lines 

 from upwind or downwind 'was one of the problems in fishing gear opera- 

 tion which we studied during this vo7/ageo In general it may be said 

 that it is better to haul from the downwind side, but in case the wind 

 is light it may perhaps be more reasonable to haul from the upwind side. 



Since the sea is calm it would probably save a great deal of 

 trouble if a tender (in my opinion it should be a vessel of 3,000 tons 

 or more) were employed to carry supplies and transport the catch for 

 large and small boats on the fishing grounds. For many years I have 

 been discussing and advocating the use of fishing flotillas, and I 

 think that if tenders were employed as floating bases, the fishing 

 operations would become surprisingly easy. In order to do this, how- 

 ever, the problem of marketing channels and many problems related to 

 operating such an enterprise would first of all have to be solved. 



3. The main problems arising from the fish 



Among the form.s of marine life in these waters, without making a 

 complete list, v/e may cite as most abundant the various tunas, skipjack, 

 cybiids, squid, shark, sardines, various shellfish, tiu^tles, Decapterus 

 spp. , and sea cucumbers. Those which shoAv the most immediate prospects 

 for profitable exploitation are the tunas, skipjack, sharks, and flying- 

 fish, and we can expect a steady expansion of commercial fishing for 

 these species in the future. Because of the high water temperatures, 

 the culture of various kinds of shellfish should be practicable, but 

 the return on one's investment in such enterprises is comparatively 

 slow and the area of suitable land available is limited. For these 



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