Table 6.--Catch rates and rates of decline for albaoore, Japanese Atlantic 



longline fishery, 1956-65 



Area 



Mean 

 catch rate 



Catch rate 

 best year 



Rate of 

 decline ■"■ 



Coeff. of 

 correlation 



Degrees of 

 freedom 



Fish per 100 hooks 



RIO. 

 BAH. 

 FLA. 

 BEN. 

 NOW. 

 CAR. 

 GUI. 

 NOE. 

 CV,. 

 GG.. 

 GM. . 



7 

 5 

 8 

 7 

 A 



2 



1.0 

 0.6 

 0.5 

 



Positive slope 

 -0.519** I 77 

 -.455 I 15 

 Positive slope 



-.238 

 -.399** 



-.283* 



-.374** 



-.563** 



45 

 92 



59 

 50 

 12 



Rate of decline calculated as slope of a straight line (shown here as absolute value) fitted 

 to logarithms of monthly catch rates, beginning with the first month of fishing in the best year. 

 *Significant (P= 0.05, or less). 

 **Highly significant (P = 0.01, or less). 



Table 7. --Catch rates and rates of decline for blue marlin, Japanese Atlantic 



longline fishery, 1956-65 



Area 



Mean 

 catch rate 



Catch rate, 

 best year 



Rate of 

 decline-"- 



Coeff. of 

 correlation 



Degrees of 

 freedom 



Fish per 100 hooks 



BAH. 

 GM. . 

 RIO. 

 GUI. 

 CAR. 

 FLA. 

 NOW. 

 NOE. 

 GG.. 

 CV.. 



BEN. 



).4 

 .4 

 .2 

 .2 

 .2 

 .2 

 .2 

 .1 

 .1 

 ,1 



0.9 

 .5 



1.1 

 .5 

 .4 

 .3 

 .3 

 .3 

 .2 

 .2 



.1 



(1958) 



(1965) 



(1959) 



(1956) 



(1964-) 



(1963) 



(1961) 



(1957) 



(1957, '58) 



(1957, '62, 



'63) 

 (1960, '63) 



0.011 



.006 



.025 



.009 



.007 (from '57) 



.007 (from '57) 



.009 (from '60) 



-0.521** 77 



.356 28 



-.343** 98 



Positive slope 



-.332 20 



-.626** 38 



-.492** 89 



-.376** 84 



-.342** 79 



-.328** 62 



•"■ Rate of decline calculated as slope of a straight line (shown here as absolute value) fitted 

 to logarithms of monthly catch rates, beginning with the first month of fishing in the best year. 

 **Highly significant (P = 0.01, or less). 



abundant to support a longline fishery. The 

 question is whether the albacore stocks can 

 bear such intense fishing. Of the major alba- 

 core areas, only Bahia sho-ws a decline in alba- 

 core catch rate--Rio de Janeiro, Florida, 

 Benguela, and North Oceanic (West) do not 

 (although there is a hint in the data that the 

 Florida area may begin to show a decline rate 



in 1966). It is hard to iinagine, however, that 

 a marked increase in fishing in these areas 

 will not be reflected in declines in catch rates 

 for albacore. A substantial lowering of the 

 albacore catch rate combined with an already 

 extremely low catch rate for yellowfin tuna 

 will make a continuing viable Atlantic long- 

 line fishery extremely doubtful. 



