The only likely baiting site in the Phoenix Islands is 

 at Canton Island (table 1 ) ,, where a sizable fish population is found 

 in the lagoon„ Besides the mullet and weke which comprised the 

 major portions of the bait catch there, some piha and iao_ have been 

 caughto Good-sized schools of small mullet have been observed in 

 the shoal parts of the lagoon. Baiting in this lagoon is made haz- 

 ardous by the presence of coral headso These also form barriers in 

 places and prevent access into certain areas with a bait skiff and 

 bait receivero (This is generally true of most of the lagoons dis- 

 cussedo) There were no baiting operations except for a few sporadic 

 night light and scouting attempts conducted at the other islands of 

 the Phoenix group;, for very few fish of suitable size were observed 

 there, and also landing v/as very difficult except during low tide 

 and calm weather o 



In general there appear to be at least moderate supplies of 

 unutilized bait m some of the Line^, leeward Hawaiian^ and Phoenix 

 islandso These supplies do not appear adequate for the West Coast 

 tuna clipper type of operationo They might supply a limited number 

 of small live-bait boats like those used in the Hawaiian fishery, 

 especially if techniques and gear were devised to capture bait in 

 the very shoal and hazardous areas of the lagoons, Furthermores 

 it should be realized that the bait resources of these areas (ex- 

 cluding Hawaii) are virtually not utilized at present and the effect 

 of exploitation on the stocks cannot be predicted,, 



TUNA FISHING vVITH LIVE BAIT 



The POFI program of live-bait fishing in the central 

 Pacific was designed primarily to provide a rough evaluation of the 

 surface tuna resources in the various regions of the central Pacific 

 and their amenability to harvest by this methodo POFI fishing in 

 the vicinity of the Hawaiian IslandSj where a coiimercial fishery^/ 

 already exists, v/as primarily designed to test the feasibility of 

 the American west coast live-bait methods and gear in that area. 



Previous to the POFI explorations se-^^eral attempts were 

 made to prospect for tuna in the central Pacific area. In 1948 the 

 Oregon, sent out by the Pacific Exploration Company , caught very few 



6/ During 19 50, an average year, approximately 9,500,000 pounds of 

 ~ skipjack were caught. The record postwar catch vvas made in 1951, 

 when approximately 12,926,000 pounds of skipjack were caught, 

 (A catch limitation was in effect during the last 3 weeks of the 

 1951 season,) 



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