RESOLUTIONS 



1. The Conference recognizes that there 

 are problems in the taxonomy and nomenclature 

 of the tunas and their allies (i. e . , family Scorn - 

 bridae of Fraser-Brunner) . The Conference 

 recommends that a review of the family be made 

 on the basis of existing knowledge and submitted 

 to the FAO World Tuna Conference to be held in 

 July 1962. Such a review would serve to identify 

 areas of common agreement and areas requiring 

 further study and material. The Conference 

 requests that R. Gibbs, Jr. and B. Collette 

 undertake such a preliminary review. 



Realizing that additional specimens of 

 certain kinds and from certain areas will be 

 needed inany case, the Conference recommends 

 that such collections be instituted as soon as 

 possible (the details of kinds and areas to be 

 specified by Gibbs and Collette). The Confer- 

 ence requests the Bureau of Commercial Fish- 

 eries Ichthyological Laboratory to explore 

 sources of funds for the collection, shipment, 

 and storage of specimens and other associated 

 costs, including study of the material. 



The Conference a c knowl e d g e s with 

 thanks and directs the attention of the Ichthy- 

 ological Laboratory to the generous offer of 

 H. Nakamura, Director, Nankai Regional Fish- 

 eries Research Laboratory, to provide speci- 

 mens from the worldwide Japanese tuna fishery. 



Results of the X-ray method and other 

 internal characteristics would be most helpful to 

 other workers if the species so identified are 

 also described in terms of external characters. 

 The Conference recommends that this be done. 



Recognizing the difficulty in capturing 

 the early juvenile stages , the Conference recom- 

 mends that concerted effort be expended in night- 

 light collecting by all research vessels on a 

 worldwide basis. 



4. The Conference recognizes that there 

 remain many problems of population identifica- 

 tion and migration and urges all research groups 

 studying tunas to attack these problems through 

 tagging experiments, studies of blood groups, or 

 other appropriate methods. Examples of such 

 studies, but by no means a complete list, include: 



A. Tagging small southern bluefin 

 off the south coast of Australia to determine if 

 recoveries are made in the "Old" and "New" 

 fishing grounds to the northwest and west of 

 Australia. 



B. Tagging small albacore (lessthan 

 50 cm., especially the 35-cm. modal group) off 

 Japan, or wherever they may be found, to deter- 

 mine their subsequent movements into the com- 

 mercial fisheries of the North Pacific. 



2. The Conference recommends that 

 there be established a World Center to promote 

 the exchange of tuna erythrocytes and reagents. 

 The Conference notes that the Bureau of Com- 

 mercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory at 

 Honolulu volunteers to act in this capacity and 

 requests that it do so. 



Further, there is a need to standardize 

 the terminology now in use for tuna blood groups. 

 There is especial need to determine if identical 

 blood groups have been independently discovered 

 and given different names. The Conference 

 recommends that the World Center perform this 

 function and suggests that the consensus of work- 

 ers in this field be determined regarding stand- 

 ard rules of nomenclature. 



3. Realizing that identification of tuna 

 larvae is in such an early stage of investigation 

 and that the results are no more than tentative, 

 the Conference recommends that both the Japa- 

 nese and American researchers continue with 

 their present work until a more definite basis 

 for establishing correct identification of species 

 is attained. 



C. Tagging small -medium albacore 

 off the west coast of South America to determine 

 if they are subsequently recovered in the long- 

 line fishery of the tropical South Pacific. 



5. The Conference notes the recent ad- 

 vances in the problems of determining the age of 

 albacore and recommends that those studying 

 this problem work together in resolving uncer- 

 tainties about the absolute ages to be associated 

 with particular sizes. 



6. The Conference points out the sub- 

 stantial advances made in identifying year 

 classes in the North Pacific albacore fisheries 

 and the desirability of studying the individual 

 year-class strength and the individual year-class 

 contribution to the entire fishery with a view to 

 establishing a basis for the study of factors af- 

 fecting year-class contribution to the entire 

 North Pacific albacore fishery. 



7. The Conference recognizes that 

 common attention to taxonomic problems by 

 immunogeneticists, biochemists , and classical 

 taxonomists would be fruitful and requests 



