employed. 



Fishinfi; Grounds 



Locations were chosen noar the fringing reef in the vicinity of man- 

 grove woods or where the sea weeds grew comparatively lijxuriantlyo 



Bait 



I wash! cut up in small pieces. 



Catch 



Local names - aron (carangid), shamoi . ashinme ru (akamasu) / prob. 

 Lut.janus sp._7, mangaru , monmei . ikam u, hirakasago £ prob, a scorpaenid_/, 

 mebaruj and fish like the Imchibidai £ prob, Lethrinus sp,._j predominated. 



Progress of the Tests 



Three baskets of line '»;ith 70 hooks to a basket were employed. The 

 lines were set twice a day before sunrise and before sunset. This type 

 of fishing is affected by the tide and the best results ars obtained when 

 the line is set while the tide is rising. The catcii per set ranged on 

 the average from five or six to ten fish. There was some damage to the 

 catch by sharks, and the gear was damaged by large fish such as carangids 

 and akam asu which broke off the hooks and tangled the lines. 



Results 



This type of fishing is all right for recreation or to supply fish 

 for one's own table, but it is of small val'ie as a commercial fishery. 



Sponge Culture Investigation 



'S 



Sponges grow profusely everywhere around the coasts of the island, 

 avid the natives commonly use them in place of wash cloths. Even at the 

 present time they have the custor of giving sponges as gifts at the birth 

 of a childa Investigation shewed that the sponges were scattered every- 

 where around the circumference of the island, but they are particularly 

 abundant in Sectors 1 and 2. During the course of the fishing investi- 

 gations some sponge culturing disks v/ere planted in the shallows north 

 of J-- 'jutik, but the work was halted before the results could be seen and 

 so it 13 unfortunately impossible to report on the experiment in this paper. 



It appears, however, that at this island sponges have a great deal of 

 value as a promising resource for future exploitation. 



Trochus Transplantation Experiment 



In the past trochus shells have never been observed to inhabit the 

 waters of Ponapf;, and some experiments in transplanting them from Palau 

 have been made. 



32 



