Table 8. --Monthly changes in 

 mean weight of albacore on 

 various grounds (in kaji) 



(3) There is also agreement 

 in the tendency for the size of the fish 

 to diminish with the passage of the season, 



(4) The proportion of large, 

 medium, and small albacore in the 

 catch, as shown in figure 7, shows 

 the same trend as in the sea areas 

 east of the archipelagoes. 



The size composition of the 

 albacore taken in this area closely 

 resembles that between 140 E. and 

 150 E. Medium-sized albacore are 

 overwhelmingly predominant, but as 

 the season advances there isanincrease 

 in the groups of smaller fish. It will be 

 noted that in the first part of the fishing 

 season in Januciry the majority of the 

 fish are medium-sized albacore. At 

 this season, the proportion of small 

 albacore in the catch in the Kinan Sea 

 Area is less than it is between 140 E. 

 and 150°E. (The area of 140°E. to 

 150 E. is the part of the North Pacific 

 fishing ground with the smallest aver- 

 age size offish.) Nevertheless, the 

 average weight of the fish here is even 

 smaller than it is at 140°E. to 150 E. , 

 and the population has the smallest 

 number of large albacore of any fish- 

 ing ground north of the Subtropical 

 Convergence. In March there is a 

 great increase in the proportion of 

 small albacore until their percentage 

 is the highest of any of the fishing 

 gr ounds nor th of the Subt r o p i c a 1 

 Convergence. The pattern is for the 

 albacore schools which appeared in 

 November at 140°E. to 150°E. to 

 move westward as well as south, and 

 proceed southwestward along the coast of Honshu. It is thought that the 

 southwestern extremity of this population first appears in this sea area, 

 and that this is the reason why the proportion of large and small albacore 

 is small and the population which appears here is composed alnnost entirely 



• 130-ltO F 



• HO -150 ■ 



• 150 -160 > 



Percentages of small, 



medium, and large albacore in 

 the catch at 28°-30°N. , 130°- 

 160 E. Left panel - over 85 

 cm. Center panel - 65-85 cm. 

 Right panel - below 65 cm. 



92 



