Table 8. --Comparison of nurrLber of flocks seen under various scouting conditions on GILBERT 

 cruises II and 13— 



— Three flocks seen under good conditions were omitted fronn the table because of 

 incomplete data. 



2/ 



— See page 5 for definition of conditions and explanation of calculations. 



Time of Day 



It is the general belief amongst Hawaiian fishermen that more bird flocks are to be 

 spotted early in the morning and in late afternoon than during the middle daylight hours. This 

 belief is borne out by the numbers sighted per hour on GILBERT cruise 11 during April 1953, 

 which are plotted in figure 6. There was a peak between 7 and 8 a.m. and a decline until noon, 

 with an increase to another peak between 2 and 4 p.nn. 



This daily pattern of behavior is not constant, however, because on GILBERT cruise 13 

 in June 1953 the greatest number of flocks was sighted between 11 a.m. and noon, with goodly 

 numbers sighted at all hours between 7 a,nn. and 5 p.m. (fig. 6). The distribution continued to 

 be about the same during the three Smith cruises in the fall months. We have no knowledge at 

 this time as to why this pattern changed after April, It nnight have been caused by a change in 

 the behavior either of the birds or of the fish. We do note that the schools seen in April were 

 predominantly small schools of small fish, whereas those seen during the June and autumn cruises 

 included more large fish. 



Dif f e r ences Among Obse r vers 



The maintenan:e of a continuous watch implies maintaining it at constant efficien-y, and 

 of course this was essential in the study. The tedium and eye strain of searching and the normal 

 ship's routine of activities require changing the fishermen on watch every 2 hours. Furthernnore, 

 for various reasons there were changes in the crew list between cruises and even in the midst of 

 cruises. Consequently it is vital to our study to determine whether the different fishermen ob- 

 served uniformly. 



Fortunately it appears that the numbers of schools sighted by the different fishermen are 

 sufficiently uniform to indicate that we have been maintaining essentially a constant watch. In 

 table 9 we list the numbers sighted by various fishermen according to distance from the vessel 

 and cruises in which they participated. Fishernnen B, E, F, and H were considered the most 

 experienced. There appears to be no tendency for any one nnan to sight flocks closer or farther 

 than the others. In particular areas on different cruises there is a tendency for certain men to 

 sight more flocks, but it is to be noticed that fishernnan E, who sighted the most flocks on 

 GILBERT 11 in Area I, sighted the least on GILBERT 13 in Areas II, III, and IV, and fisherman 



13 



