toward the end of the season, and consequently there is also a certain amount of change in the 

 bases of the fishery with the season. In the past Suo and Keelung have been the bases, but with 

 the completion of a fishing harbor at Shinko in the Taito district in 1932 this port came to be 

 used as a base for the southern fishing grounds, and at present there are from 20 to 30 boats 

 of this type using Shinko as a base. However, Shinko is geographically, as well as culturally, 

 still inferior to Suo and Keelung as a base, and the amount of fish landed there is far inferior 

 to that at the other two ports. In the near future, with the completion of the harbor works at 

 Karenko, this port too will naturally be used as a base, and there will be a complete array of 

 bases from Shinko on the south through Karenko in the nniddle to Suo and Keelung in the north. 



(b) Fishing boats 



The fishing boats are of wooden construction with engines of 30-90 HP. At present the 

 most commonly seen type is of 20-30 tons with 40-50 HP and a crew of from 4 or 5 to 10 men. 

 This crew is made up of the captain, the engineer, and the fishermen. The fishing boats, 

 depending on their size, have various kinds of large or small platforms built in the bow for the 

 harpooner to stand on. The harpooner's platform is built somewhat like a box so as to protect 

 him from danger and there is an iron rail (about 2 cm. in diameter) installed alongside him in 

 case of danger. On the larger vessels there is room for two harpooners to stand, one on the 

 right and one on the left, at the same time at the end of the harpooning platform. A lookout is 

 kept on the bridge to search the surface of the sea for surfaced spearfishes. Recently simple 

 platforms have been built atop the bridges for the convenience of the lookouts on an increasing 

 number of vessels. In the summer these vessels turn to fishing for coral (see plate 12). 



(c) Fishing gear and methods 



The main part of the gear is the harpoon. On a pole of oak about 4.5 m. long, an iron 

 with three prongs about 8 nnm. in diameter is placed and the harpoon points are installed on each 

 of these three tips. The harpoon points are of steel, about 11.5 cnn. long, and each one is 

 attached to a wire cable. These wire cables are joined together and go through a ring on the 

 upper part of the handle where they join a harpoon line made of 360 strands of No. 20 line. The 

 harpoon line has about 300 fathoms per basket, and depending on the necessity any number of 

 these baskets can be joined together. 



When the lookout sights a surfaced marlin, the boat gives chase at full speed and when 

 it reaches an appropriate distance the harpooner throws the harpoon at the fish. If the harpoon 

 point strikes the fish, it comes loose from the handle and remains within the body of the fish, 

 and the handle is recovered by a separate line attached to it. The fish is played on the harpoon 

 line by hand until it is finally hauled into the boat. 



/Translator's note: sketch of a complete harpoon_and one harpoon point appearing here in the 

 original have been omitted from the translation. / 



(d) Kinds of fish captured 



Among the kinds of spearfish taken by the harpoon fishery, the white marlin is most 

 numerous followed by the striped marlin, the black marlin, the sailfish, and the broadbill in that 

 order. 



As has already been clearly shown in table 7, there is a change in the species composition 

 of the catch throughout the season which can be conveniently shown in the following table. 



Since tables 7 and 9 also include the catches fronn fisheries other than the harpoon fishery, 

 the sailfish and black marlin predominate. It is clear, however, that during the season when the 

 harpoon fishery is most active the black marlin is taken in greater numbers than the sailfish. 



39 



