Table 2 Fish Catch by Seasons in the Southwest Pacific 



Area 



Southwest Monsoon 



Number of 

 Hooks 



Catch Rate 



Northeast Monsoon 



Number of 

 Hooks 



Catch Rate 



East of Formosa 

 East of Philippines 

 South Seas Govt.-Genl. 

 South China Sea 

 Sulu Sea 

 Celebes Sea 



Papua 

 Solomons 



) 



coasts 



Banda 

 Flore s 



} 



seas 



900 



7,3^0 



115,099 



4,158 



none 



10,493 



10,500 

 80,089 



1.78 

 7.98 

 5.40 

 3.32 

 none 

 8.86 



4.39 

 8.56 



7,032 



2,394 



105,527 



106,402 



4,600 



146,663 



11,292 

 1,690 



1 



2.94 

 0,67 

 4.18 

 4»69 

 3,96 

 4.06 



4.04 

 7.34 



As the foregoing table shows, the fishing is generally better during^ 

 the southwest monsoon. This is considered to indicate a more dense distri- 

 bution of the fish. Only in t'-e South China Sea and the vraters east of 

 Formosa is the fishing better during the northwest monsoon, but due to the 

 paucity of data it is not clear whether or not this tendency is decisive. 



According to Table 1 the highest catch rates were obtained in the 

 Banda and Flore s seas, and in these areas the seasonal changes were not 

 very pronounced. 



To go a bit more into detail, the outlines of the distribution by sea 

 areas are as follows. The seas east of Formosa and the South China Sea 

 are omitted from consideration here as they have already been generally 

 described. 



(a) East Philippines Sea (3° - 20°N, 123° - 131°E) 



This area is divided into three sections by the pattern of the currents. 

 The northern section is the area of origin of the Kuroshio, where the 

 Equatorial Cxirrent begins to turn northward, and may be generally considered 

 to lie north of 15°N. The central section is the area where the Equatorial 

 Current impinges upon the Philippine Archipelago, and can be considered 

 to lie roughly between 10° - 15^N. The southern section is in the Equatorial 



Countercurrent area and may be considered to lie south of 10 N 

 in these three areas is as shown in Table 3. 



The catch 



20 



