"jumping" fisl^/, or by the presence of porpoise with the schools. 

 At the Line and phoenix islands a number of schools were located by 

 trolling. Vfhen a strike occurred, bait was broadcast to bring the 

 school up to the vessel. This method was used extensively by the 

 Tradewind and Calistar during their exploratory cruises to the Line 

 Islands, 



LOCATIONS OF THE MORE PRODUCTIVE AREAS AROUND 



THE LINE AND PHOENIX ISLANDS 



In the vicinity of the Line and Phoenix islands 91 percent 

 and 82 percent by weight respectively of the tuna taken by POFI 

 live-bait vessels were caught on the lee.vard side of the islands. 

 Furthermore, 63 percent ajid 81 percent by weight of the tuna caught 

 with live-bait in the Line and Phoenix islands respectively have 

 been caught within 3 miles of the reef or shore» These percentages 

 may be slightly biased because there was a tendency to work the in- 

 shore and the lee waters of the islands longer and more often since 

 generally more fish schools were seen £ind caught there, and the 

 weather was more favorable » POFI trolling results also indicate that 

 yellowfin tuna in the Line Islands are more abundant on the lee side 

 of the islands than on their windward sides (see Bates 1950), 



SIZE OF FISH 



Most of the yellowfin caught by the live-bait method at the 

 Line and Phoenix islands consist of fish weighing between 20 to 30 

 pounds (fig, 3). These are normally caught on a one-pole rig. 

 Generally, these smaller one-pole fish are the first to take the 

 hooks ^ and later the larger, deeper- swimning ones will come to the 

 surface and begin biting (fig, 4), These mixed-size schools occur 

 very commonly in the close proximity of the islands of the Line 

 and Phoenix areas „ The non-uniformity in size of the yellowfin 

 makes the fishing difficult and hazardous, and often prevents a good 

 catch from being made, 



SEASONAL VARIATIONS 



Seasonal variation in the abundance of tuna in the Line 

 and Phoenix islands may exist, but our fishing data at present are 



%/ "Breezing" occurs when the school swims close to the surface and 

 causes the water to have the appearance of a tide rip or wind 

 disturbance. "Jumping schools" are characterized by occasional 

 fish jumping out of the water, 



14 



