Table 3. --Annual flucatuations in the albacore catch rate on 

 the Okinotorishinna fishing ground (cont'd) 



c). 135 E~I36 E CJanrary.) 



North of this sea area from December to March good albacore 

 fishing grounds develop north of 28 N. latitude. These are the so-caJled 

 Kinan Reef and Tosa albacore fishing grounds. Hereafter, in this work, 

 these Kinan Reef and Tosa grounds will be referred to as the Kinan fish- 

 ing ground. Although the Okinotorishima ground and the Kinan ground 

 are close together, and in March actually overlap in part, they are thought 

 to be quite different in character. The reasons for this belief are: (1) the 

 albacore taken on the Kinsin ground are much smaller thein those from the 

 Okinotorishima ground; (2) the fishing grounds develop in the two areas at 

 different times. As will be shown later, the length group of 75 to 85 cm. 

 is the main group of albacore on the Kinan fishing ground, these being the 

 so-called "3- kan albacore. " On the Okinotorishima ground, as already 

 stated, the average weight is 6. 8 kan, a size which is in good agreement 

 with that of the fish occurring broadly south of the Subtropical Convergence. 



3. Tropical Seas 



There is a certain amount of albacore catch generally distributed 

 over the South Sea area, but except for a small area south of Palau there 

 are no fishing grounds with concentrated catches. There appears to be 

 some concentration of catch near Kapingamarangi Island, but the average 

 catch rate does not reach 1.0. 



The albacore catches south of Palau continue until around January, 

 but there appear to be great variations in the fishing conditions fronn day 

 to day and an extreme lack of stability. The reasons for such variations 

 in the fishing conditions are not known, but they appear to be largely re- 

 lated to the patterns of current boundaries and the topography of the 

 islands, and this also appears to be true in the Kapingamarangi area. 



Nothing at all is known at present of the relationships of the schools 

 appearing in Palau waters, but as the following table shows their average 

 weight is about 1 kan /_8. 27 lbs._/ less than that of fish in the Okinotorishima 



26 



