PART II DESCRIP110N OF THE HSHERIES 



INTRODUCTION 



Although the number of economic species of lisn, reptiles, and marine invertebrates 

 is certainly in excess of 2,000, the day to day subsistence of the Native people is depend- 

 ent on a comparatively fen groups. Of the reef and inshore fish it v.iil be found that 

 throughout the mandated area the most important are the angel fish, the barracuda, the 

 crevalle, the wrasse, the goat-fisn, the parrot fish, the squirrel fish, and the surgeon 

 fish. Among invertebrates, the more important ones are a type oi cockle called anadara, 

 concn, crab, octopi, the rock oyster, spiny lobstei', giant clam, trochus, and turbo or cat- 

 eye. Although a number of species of sea cucumbers are abundantly distributed ovijr the 

 entire area, they were not found to be an important item in the native diet. 



On the various kinds of fish found in the open ocean outside the barrier reefs, the 

 tuna, mackerel, and sword fish are of general importance. A few of these offshore fish are 

 taken by the natives, us\ially by trolling just outside the breakers on the barrier reef. 

 The natives fish depths of as much as 20 fathans, where they sometimes take swordfish 

 weighing over 200 pounds, and yellow fin tuna weighing up to 80 pounds. 



Occasionally a dugong or sea cow was taken, particularly in the Palaus, but the total 

 number evidently never amo\inted to more than a few a year, 



Ihe failure of the natives to develop more of an offshore fishery was not due to their 

 inability to catch the tuna and other species, but simply resulted from the fact that they 

 had no need to. From a practical standpoint it was easier for them to obtain their fish 

 from the constant fish population on the reefs and in the lagoons. Their offshore fishing 

 was more in trfe nature of what we would call "sport fishing". The taking of an extra large 

 tuna or swordfish is described by the natives with as much enthusiasm as though it were to 

 be entered into- the records of the International Game Fish Association. 



Since fishing between the shore and- the reef provided most of the food for the table, 

 there was a customary division of labor between the sexes. Usually women and girls fished 

 the reefs and flats close inshore, which are either exposed at low tide or nearly so. The 

 men did the spear fishing, diving, and hand-lining, either around the reefs or in favorable 

 spots in the lagoons. Boys begin going fishing with their fathers when about six years cf 

 age, and by the time they are ten they frequently go fishing with groups of others of their 

 own age. Fishing with beadi seine or from canoes is usually entirely in the hands of men. 

 The women either collect their fish by hand or, in some cases, use a small hand net to 

 collect small fish around rocks in the shallow waters of the flats. Most of the diving 

 done by the men is in less than four fathoms, 



7i\e above statements should not be construed to mean that the fishery resources of the 

 former Japanese Mandate are only sufficient for native subsistence. Succeeding sections 

 will show that the Japanese actually took 75 million pounds of bonito from the area in one 

 year, using shore based lleets of small fishing vessels - under 50 tons. In addition, several 

 factory ships produced an unknown, but certainly sizeable quantity which did not appear in 

 the Uandate statistics. There is no doubt that offshore supplies of bonito and tuna are 

 ample to support a fisherj^ approaching 200 million pounds annually. 



The present state of our knowledge of the tunas does not answer the question of 

 whether or not the tunas of the mandated area are seasonally a part of the population which 

 supports the Japanese home fishery, and if so to what extent. If this should be the case, 

 it is possible that a catch of 200 million pounds in the former Mandate would cause some 

 reduction in catch off J^pan proper. 



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