88 fish including all species, and 82 fish were taken on the adjacent 

 20 baskets of long-dropper gear. During the second experiment 10 

 baskets of short-dropper gear were fished on each of six stations. The 

 total catch was 46 on the special gear and 34 on the regular gear. 

 Although the design of these experiments did not provide perfect sta- 

 tistical control of soaking time, the results suggested that short drop- 

 pers were as efficient as long ones as far as catching fish is concerned. 



Shortening the droppers did not actually reduce the labor during 

 the hauling, however, for the short droppers tended to tangle (wrap 

 around the mainline) more than the long droppers. This is reflected in 

 the average hauling time of 4.0 minutes for short-dropper gear com- 

 pared to 3. 6 minutes for baskets equipped with long droppers fished at 

 the same time. 



Excessive tangling of short droppers was virtually eliminated by 

 introducing a wire link in the mainline. Each dropper is snapped on 

 this link or bridle, which turns freely in the AK snap, and thus the 

 dropper is rarely wrapped on the mainline when the latter twists, as 

 it frequently does when under tension. This was shown quantitatively 

 during three cruises when wire bridles were used. Of 1,181 baskets 

 with 11 short droppers (2 fathoms of cotton and 1 fathom of leader) 

 and wire links, 86 percent had one or no tangle, while of 1,433 baskets 

 with 6 long droppers and no links only 63 percent had one or no tangle. 

 Reduced tangling is also reflected in the hauling time, for 11 -hook gear 

 with wire links was hauled in an average of 3. 7 minutes per basket over 

 the three cruises, while the regular 6-hook gear (fished at the same 

 stations) averaged 3.9 minutes per basket (excluding baskets with 

 broken mainlines). 



Changes in Hook Spacing 



Changes in hook spacing along the mainline were initiated in 1953 

 in order (1) to ascertain the most efficient hook spacing from operational 

 (i.e., commercial) aspects, and (2) to provide additional information on 

 the schooling behavior of the fish. Analysis of the catches of 6-hook 

 gear (Murphy and Elliott 1954) suggested that yellowfin were schooled, 

 and if this were true, the catch over a given unit of line should be 

 greater if more hooks are available to the schools of fish that encounter 

 a segment of line. These experiments are continuing, so this discus- 

 sion must be considered a preliminary report. 



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