to haul fish several hundred miles for storage. Several conditions 

 make it difficult to estimate the quantities of frozen tuna that 

 could be handled without expansion of present storage space. 

 Packaged products are preferred over bulk fish at the freezer 

 plants, and demands for space are increasing. However, freezer 

 operators in the Gulf A.rea generally express the opinion that 

 facilities will be kept abreast of any gradually increasing 

 requirement of a developing tuna Indus try o 



Central Pacific Area 



RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC 



Considerable knowledge has been gained concerning the 

 occurrence and abundance of various tunas in the open Pacific 

 in recent years. The Japanese, engaging in large-sacle fishing 

 ventures in pre-war and post-war years, have located vast new mid- 

 ocean productive grounds for albacore and yellowfin in the western 

 half of the Pacific, Several Japanese mothership expeditions 

 using long-line catcher boats, have operated iri the central 

 Pacific in the last few years. The Service's Pacific Oceanic 

 Fishery Investigations staff is presently engaged in exploration 

 and stucfy of new tuna grounds in the equatorial eastern half of 

 the Pacific, This investigation, which has been under way for 5 

 years, has revealed the existence of extensive stocks of yellowfin 

 in waters south of Hawaii which can be readily caught with sub- 

 sTirface long-line gear. The exact extent of mid-Pacific tuna 

 grounds which may be available can only be surmised at this time, 

 but possibilities for further extension of offshore fishing areas 

 are promising, 



QUANTITIES AND SPECTES AVAILABLE 



In the immediate vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands, a sizable 

 resource of skipjack is fished by local vessels from May to October. 

 Annual landings approximate 10,000,000 potinds. There is also a 

 small population of surface yellowfin in the area during the summer 

 months, A limited long-line fishery exists to supply the needs of 

 the local fresh fish market. The outlook for expansion of this 

 fishery is not bright as the abundance of tuna in the area appears 

 to be much lower than in waters farther south. 



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