Table 5. --Present fleet of skipjack and tuna boats 

 (as of Sept. 20, 1949) 



Note: From Suiaan Jiho, April 1950. 



Setting of the lines ordinarily begins before dawn. The lines are thrown from the 

 deck at the stern while the vessel is underway. The joining of the trunk lines, transportation 

 and attachment of bait, the attachment of floats and light buoys, etc., are performed rapidly by 

 a skillful division of labor. When the setting of the scheduled number of baskets of line has been 

 completed, the vessels begin patrolling back along the line. The floats are kept under observa- 

 tion cuid if there is ajiy catch on the line the fish are brought into the boat. When the number of 

 units of gear set was small, the vessels patrolled the lines several times and ordinarily began 

 hauling lines around sunset. However, at present, when the number of baskets of gear set at one 

 time is extremely large, the time needed for hauling lines is long and there is no opportunity to 

 patrol the lines carefully. 



A line-hauler is used to haul the lines. In some cases the line-hauler is powered by 

 electricity, but in other cases it is turned by a belt operated directly off the boat's engine. The 

 machine is of simple construction with two rollers turning in opposite directions. In order to 

 prevent slippage of the line, the rollers are covered with rubber. 



The speed at which the line-hauler is run and the speed of the vessel must be adjusted 

 in various ways depending on the condition of the line. The line-haulers in use at present can 

 ordinarily handle 400 to 800 feet per minute. Although the machine does wind in the line, it is 

 not a case of simply hauling the line into the boat by force. When there are fish on the hooks, 

 they must be brought into the boat, and if the line is tangled, the tangles have to be cleared so 

 that the gear will be ready for use the following morning. Consequently it takes over 10 hours to 

 get the line in and it not rarely happens that the work is carried over to the following day. 

 This work is also carried on by a very systennatic division of labor. 



Working in this fashion fronn before dawn to midnight with almost no time to rest, 

 living in a small boat with no comforts or recreation, and repeating the same operation 20 or 30 

 times, the exertions of the men employed in this fishery are by no means commonplace. 



Squid, saury, nnackerel, and sardines are most commonly employed as bait. 

 Trichiurus has also been used with good results and herring are sonnetimes used. The fact that 

 live bait is not necessary as it is in the pole and line fishery is an extremely strong point of this 

 fishing method. This fact makes it possible to operate over long periods of time and to develop 

 fishing grounds at great distances. Bait is brought from the base in ice or frozen. At times even 

 salted bait is used. In former times when the nunnber of units of gear fished was smaller, some 

 boats eked out their supply of bait by catching squid on the fishing grounds after hauling the lines. 

 Boats based in Formosa used to employ as bait chiefly milkfish ( Chanos chanos), which were 

 raised in ponds. As this fish is cultured widely throughout the southern areas, it offered the 

 possibility of large scale utilization as longline bait in cases where we were able to have bases in 



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