fish and a much smaller percentage of them was fished by the fishermen. We suspect that they 

 were not fished partly because they were small fish and also partly because they may have been 

 smaller and wilder schools. In either case the fishermen are reluctant to waste bait if there is 

 a fair possibility of encountering a big school of large fish during the next few hours. The fisher- 

 men also avoid small fish, even though they sell them for the sanne price per pound, because the 

 buyers prefer the larger fish and threaten to pay less or not buy if large quantities of snnall fish 

 are landed. 



161° 



159° 



158° 



157° 



22° 



20° 



— 50,000 POUNDS 



160° 



159° 



158° 



157° 



156° 



155° 



154° 



Figure 9. --Location of the average year's catch of skipjack from 1948 to 1952. Data compiled 

 from records of the Division of Fish and Game, Board of Commissioners of Agri- 

 culture and Forestry, Territory of Hawaii. 



In spite of seeing fewer schools per day in June, the fishermen were nnuch more success- 

 ful, as is indicated by the catch per day in table 13. Thus the success of the fishery depends on 

 the size and behavior of the fish as well as their abundance, and there are seasonal cycles in all 

 of these factors. 



RESULTS OF LIVE BAIT FISHING 



The annount of live bait fishing which we were able to accomplish on our cruises was 

 limited, but in general our experience was similar to that of the commercial fishermen during 

 the same period in that we encountered smaller fish during the spring nnonths and larger ones 

 during the autumn. 



