region and, since these two fishing grounds are widely separated, it 

 is deduced that they are of different stocks. 



Table 4. --S i z e composition of 

 albacore catches in Palau waters 



Note: Figures in parentheses are 

 weight in kan / 8. 27 lb8._/. 

 Mean weight is 5.9 kan {49 lbs.) 



Although the data are inadequate, the size composition of the 

 albacore in the Kapingajnarangi Island region is as shown in the follow- 

 ing table. 



Table 5. --Si z e composition of 

 albacore catches in Kapingamarangi 

 I. waters 



Note: Figures in parentheses are 

 weight in kan . Mean weight 

 is 6. 3 kan (52 lbs. ) 



There are very few data on the size of the albacore which are 

 teiken sporadically in waters along the Equator east of 140 E, longitude, 

 but within the scope of existing data their average weight is shown to be 

 6.7 kan (about 25 kilog.), which is extremely large. It is thought worthy 

 of note that such large fish are distributed very sparsely over an extra- 

 ordinarily broad area of the sea, and they are thought to have a different 

 ecological significance from the schools of the North Pacific. Only fur- 

 ther research in the future can show whence such schools of large fish 

 are replenished and what their ecological significance may be, however, 

 it is hypothesized that these schools of large fish bear a close relation- 

 ship to spawning, and there is a considerable eimount of information 

 backing up this hypothesis. 



27 



