Table 19. --Seasonal changes in fishing conditions 

 (Bauida Sea, Flores Sea, and Molucca 

 Strait area) 



Note: The catch rates are the combined totals for 

 tunas and spearfishes. 



As table 19 shows, fishing is somewhat poorer during the season of northwesterly 

 winds than during the southwesterlies. Very few data are available for the season of northwester- 

 ly winds so it is difficult to affirm definitely that fishing is poorer during this season than it is 

 during the southwesterlies. However, it is possible that this table represents accurately the 

 seasonal changes in fishing conditions in this area because the same trends have been demon- 

 strated (see table 16) for the seasonal changes in fishing in the Lesser Sunda archipelago area. 

 (Translator's note: the discussion of seasonal winds in this paragraph does not check with the 

 wind directions given in table 19, which shows a season of northwesterly and a season of 

 southeasterly winds. Available references indicate that the designations used in the table are 

 probably correct and that the southerly seasonal winds in this region actually blow from the south- 

 east. ) 



Looking at the records of the yellowfin sizes, it appears that in general large fish 

 predominate, with the average weight 48. 5 kilograms. Catch rates for bigeye tuna and spear- 

 fishes are low, juid it appears that bigeye are particularly scarce. The size of the yellowfin and 

 the composition of the catch differ widely from those found in the adjacent Celebes Sea to the 

 north and in the western part of the Pacific, while, as shown in table 17, they bear a remarkably 

 close resemblance to the adjacent waters of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Such phenomena may be 

 thought quite natural from a geographical point of view, and they may further be thought to give 

 some very interesting hints as to the migratory paths of the schools which come into this sea 

 area. 



The fact that the size of the yellowfin is generally large, and the fact that they are 

 present throughout the year with little change in density of occurrence are considered to indicate 

 that this sea area may have an important significance in connection with the propagation of the 

 yellowfin. However, nothing concrete has as yet been reported from this sea area concerning 

 their spawning. 



This sea area is not only, as stated above, £in extraordinarily good tuna longlining 

 ground, but it also appears to present various important problems irom the point of view of 

 yellowfin distribution and migrational routes as well as from the standpoint of ecology. In the 

 same sense, the series of sea areais to the north--the Celebes Sea, Sulu Sea, and South China 

 Sea--all having the character of enclosed basins, are thought to be all worthy of attention. 



2. Celebes Sea 



This sea area is inclosed by Celebes, Borneo, the Sulu archipelago, and Mindanao. 

 To the east it connects with the western Pacific Ocean through the strait between Celebes and 

 Mindanao, on the north with the Sulu Sea across the Sulu archipelago, and on the south with the 

 Flores Sea region by way of Macassar Strait. 



54 



