6. The spearfishes appear generally to be most abundant in the 

 vicinity of islands. 



7. With regard to the yellowfin 



i. They are generally more numerous during the southwest monsoon. 

 ii„ In the low latitudes they are generally not subject to much 

 seasonal variationo 

 iii. In offshore waters of the low latitudes the fish are generally 

 small. 

 iVo In the higher latitudes and in enclosed sea areas the fish 

 are generally large. 

 Vo In the Celebes Sea some degree of peculiarity can be seen 

 in that, although it lies in the low latitudes, there are 

 marked seasonal variations. 



8. From a consideration of the catch rates, the composition of the 

 catch, and the size of the yellowfin, it appears that there are several 

 populations in the Southwest Pacific, but nothing has as yet been ascer- 

 tained concerning their relationships. 



c. Outline of the Distribution in the Indian Ocean 



The areas which have been surveyed in the Indian Ocean region are 

 the coastal waters of the Greater and Lesser Sundas and of the Andaman 

 and Nicobar Islands. If these data are presented according to the outline 

 used in tables 1 and 2, they are as shown in tables 6 and 1 „ 



Table 7 Catch by Seasons (Indian Ocean) 



(a) Coastal waters of the Lesser Sundas (8° - Vfz, 115° •= 130°E) 



As Table 6 shows, the catch rates are extremely high, indicating a 

 great density of occurrence. The X'ates of appearance of big-eyed tuna and 

 spearfishes are low, the yellowfin are large fish, and the numerical 

 values closely resemble those of the Banda Sea and Flores Sea, areas. (See 



28 



