NORTHEASTERN PACIFIC ALBACORE SURVEY 

 PARTI. BIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



By 



Joseph J, Graham 



Fishery Research Biologist 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 



Biological Laboratory_ 

 Honolulu, Hawaii 



1/ 



Albacore tuna, Germo alalunga (Bonnaterre) 

 were landed commercially in ports of Washing- 

 ton and Oregon for the first time in 1937. Dur- 

 ing 1939 they began to appear in exploratory 

 catches of commercial vessels off British 

 Columbia, Canada. By 1945 the annual commer- 

 cial catch exceeded a million pounds. Large 

 catches were consistently made off British 

 Columbia by 1948 with good fishing extending as 

 far north as Queen Charlotte Islands (Powell et 

 al. 1952), which represented the farthest north- 

 ward extension of the fishery. Following 1948 

 the fishery declined rapidly; by 1951 only a few 

 albacore were taken commercially north of 

 California, 



The return of albacore to these northern 

 waters was indicated in 1955 when scattered fish 

 were reported from the area by research ves- 

 sels of the University of Washington and of the 

 United States Fish and Wildlife Service {Grahann 

 1957, Holmberg 1956). In 1956, vessels from 

 these agencies again reported fish in the area 

 and commercial vessels, which followed up 

 these reports, developed a small albacore fish- 

 ery off Oregon (Anonynnous 1956, Frolander and 

 Lincoln 1956). 



The Northeastern Pacific Albacore Survey 

 or NEPAS was designed to map the distribution 

 of albacore in this northern area and to deter- 

 mine how the distribution was related to oceano- 

 graphic and biological phenonnena. The survey 

 was conducted by the Biological Laboratory of 

 the Bureau of Comnnercial Fisheries at Honolulu, 

 Hawaii, as a part of their Saltonstall-Kennedy 

 (68 Stat. 376) albacore tuna project, and in co- 

 operation with members of the fishing industry, 

 and the fishery research agencies of California, 

 Oregon, and Washington. The Pacific Marine 

 Fisheries Connmission acted as liaison for the 

 cooperating agencies. 



The survey area extended from 35*N. to 

 47*N. latitude and from 50 to 350 miles offshore. 

 The southern limit of the survey area was just 



i.' Fornnerly the Pacific Oceanic Fishery 

 Investigations. 



north of Point Arguello, California, which 

 approximates the northern summer limit of the 

 southern California albacore fishery. The 



northern limit approached generally the north- 

 ernmost penetration of the west coast albacore 

 fishery during the summer. Inshore and off- 

 shore limits were determined from data gather- 

 ed on previous cruises which indicated that a 

 definite scarcity of fish existed beyond these 

 boundaries during the summer (Graham 1957, 

 Anonymous 1957). Thus, the survey was placed 

 off the coasts of northern California, Oregon, 

 and Washington. The period covered was from 

 July 22 to August 1 (1967), a time when the west 

 coast albacore fishery could be expected to 

 reach or approach its peak in production 

 (Clemens 1966). 



Nine charter vessels were assigned to the 

 trolling tracks shown in figure 1. Six of the ves- 

 sels carried scientific observers provided by 

 California Fish and Game (2), Oregon Fish Corrt- 

 nnission (1), Washington State Department of 

 Fisheries (1), and Honolulu Biological Labora- 

 tory (2). The vessels, operators, home ports, 

 and names and agencies of the observers are 

 given in table 1. The charter vessels were aug- 

 mented by the two Honolulu Laboratory vessels, 

 the Hugh M. Smith and the John R. Manning, 

 which operated in the survey area making ocea- 

 nographic and biological observations. 



This report lists the biological data collect- 

 ed during the survey. They are presented here 

 to make them readily available to other agencies 

 studying the ecology of the albacore in the east- 

 ern Pacific. Descriptive and analytical publica- 

 tions will follow. Oceanographic and plankton 

 data will also be the subjects of separate re- 

 ports. 



The John R. Manning departed on cruise 36 

 from Honolulu on June 14, 1957, to make a pre- 

 liminary troll and gill-net survey of the area. 

 The Manning travelled northeast to42*N., 135*W. 

 (see fig. 2), returned south to 31*N. , and then 

 zigzagged northward through the NEPAS area. 

 The Manning arrived in Astoria, Oregon, on 

 July 16 and remained there until the start of 

 NEPAS on July 22. Subsequently, she proceeded 



