owing to the difficulty of carrying out experimental fishing in that area, 

 it became necessary to shift the base of operations to '.?oleai I„ On June 

 21 the vessels called at Truk to replenish fuel and provisions, leaving 

 that port on the 2Stho Making oceanographic observations en route, the 

 vessels stopped at Puluwat and at Lamotrek (for a bait investigation). 

 They arrived at '/Voleai on July 7 and the first fishing trial was made on 

 the 9th off Falalis 1, In all 7 trials were made. 



The fishing grounds were chiefly about 10 miles off Falalis and 

 Utagal islands: the grounds northeast of Voleai were inactive. Fishing 

 ended on the l6th and on the 22nd the vessels returned to Palau. 



An outline of the results of this investigation is as follows: 



Days of operation 7 Number of schools sighted 13 



Times fished 8 Number of catches made 7 



Times fish did not bite 1 Number of fish taken skipjack 735 



tuna 209* 

 Marked fish released 100 (ta 100 - ta 199, see table) 

 Body measurements (average of 100 fish) weight 6-|- pounds 

 length 51o7 cm. depth 15.0 cm. breadth 12.3 cm. 



Fi shing Conditions 



Quite a few schools were sighted, perhaps because the period of this 

 investigation may have coincided with the migration of ^hs schools into 

 these waters. Skipjack and tuna schools were also seen to come into the 

 channel and bay / lagoon?_/ between Falalis and Utagal islands to feed. 

 As a result of a total of 7 trials, fish were taken 7 times / sie_7„ The 

 number of hooks fished was 86 and the number of fish taken was 735 skipjack 

 and 209 tuna. Tagging and releasing fish diminished the catch by about 23 

 per c .t, it is thought. 



Fishing grounds were chiefly to the south and west of the islands 

 ^::1 from 5 to 12.3 miles off shore, although some were sighted to the 

 lorth and east and schools were seen to come in to the vicinity of the 

 outer reef xn search of food. The schools were associated with birds and 

 with drifting logs, and were pretty dense. Many schools were mixed with 

 tuna, Th--; average weight of the fish was Sg pounds. (see accompanying 

 table of fishing experiments) 



Sea C onditions 



Oceanogrf.phic observations were made 7 times on the various fishing 

 stations. Temperature, density, and salinity were measured at the surface 

 and at depths of 25, 50, 100, 150, and 200 meters, with the following 

 results. (for positions of the fishing stations see the accompanying table 

 of fishing experiments) 



*/ The "tuna" referred to were probably small yellowfin,_/ 



36 



