20 25 30 



SOAKING TIME (HUNDREDS OF MINUTES) 



First, on cruise 

 12 (August-September 1952) 

 an experiment was carried 

 out with sardines to deter- 

 mine whether brined baits 

 held up under fishing con- 

 ditions as well as dry -sal ted 

 baits. Brining was tried 

 first because It Involves 

 less work and handling and 

 yet should have the same 

 preservative effect as dry 

 salting. During the experi- 

 ment some of the baits were 

 brined by placing them In a 

 saturated salt solution 

 overnight (dry salting was 

 done as described above). 

 The bait returns from 720 

 hooks are given In table 3. 

 The nonslgnlf Icance of the 

 total, pooled, and Inter- 

 action ohl-squares (P>0.05) 

 Indicates no difference In 

 bait return under the two 

 treatments. The division of 

 the catch Is also consistent 

 with the similarity of bait 

 returns, for of a catch of 

 21 fish 11 were caught with 

 dry-salted sardines. 



Figure 2. --Sardine bait return vs. soaking time, 

 John R. Manning cruise 11. (Data 

 presented In groups of 5 baskets.) 



The second 

 experiment, carried out on 

 cruise 15 (May-June 1953) , was designed to compare untreated and dry-salted baits 

 The results of this experiment are given In table 4. The lack of significant 

 differences in bait return and catch with the two methods of preparation gives 

 strong support to the idea that salting is unnecessary if refrigeration is 

 available . 



It appears that Insofar as fishing efficiency is concerned there are no 

 differences among dry-salted, brined, and fresh-thawed sardines. However, it 

 should be pointed out that the experiments were confined to sa]?dlne baits and were 

 carried out with a maximum soaking time of approximately 10 hours. Dlffei:*ences 

 with bait treatment may appear during longer soaking periods or with different 

 species of bait. 



BAITING METHODS 



In some instances small catches were coincident with small bait returns, 

 and if these were causally related, the implication would be that an excessive 

 number of baits had been lost during the soaking period. Under these circumstances 

 the catch rate would not be indicative of the relative abundance of fish. To 

 investigate this relationship and to discover ways of reducing bait loss, the 

 usually single-hooked baits were Impaled in various ways considered likely to 

 improve the chances of their staying on the hook. The methods of baiting employed 

 during these experiments are illustrated In figure 3. The experiments were con- 

 ducted with sardine and herring. Because of anatomical differences that affect 

 the tendency of the bait to remain on the hook, the sardine and herring experiments 

 are considered separately. 



