October to March^^O), A comparison of the changes in fishing 

 conditions which occur in these two seasons is shown in table 

 lOo The figures used in the table are based on data collected 

 by a large number of research vessels over many years, data 

 from commercial fishing vessels not being used at alio 



Table 10 



Fishing Situation by Seasons 



Notes (l) The catch rate is the number of fish caught per 100 

 hooks fishedo 



(2) The southwest trades blow from April to September, 

 the northeast from October to Marcho 



(3) The catch is the total of tunas and spearfisheSj 

 but does not include sharkso 



Looking over the material presented in table 10, it appears 

 that on the whole the catch rates during the southwest monsoon 

 exceed those of the northeast monsoono It must be noted, how- 

 ever, that the figures given in this table are a summary of data 

 from a rather extensive area, and that the number of units of 

 fishing gear employed at different seasons varies markedlyo 

 Just as a trend, though, it does appear that the fishing is 

 better during the season of southwestern es than during that 

 of northeasterly windso This tendency seems particularly con- 

 spicuous in the Bast Philippine Sea and the Celebes Sea, 



(20; There is a time differential of about 1 month between 

 the shift in the seasonal winds and the changes in 

 oceanographic conditions, the changes in sea conditions 

 lagging behind the change in the winds » 



88 



