ACKNOWLEDOffiNTS 



Most of the data and information used in this report vrere 

 extracted from the logs of field observations kept by the scientist- 

 observerSj, officers;, and fishermen- crew members of the POFI research 

 vessel Sp Hugh Mo Smith and Henry OjJMalley^, and the commercial vessel, 

 TradewindT~^omparatrve data concerning €he Hawaiian fishery was pro= 

 vided by the Division of Fish and Game of the Territory of Hawaii, 



SPECIES OF BAIT 



The success of a tuna live-bait fishery depends in a 

 large part oft a constant and ample supply of small bait fisho In the 

 central Pacific many different species of fish have been used as 

 bait by the various exploratory vessels and the Hawaiian commercial 

 vessels. More complete descriptions and figures of the more impor- 

 tant bait fishes have been provided by June and Relntjes (1953)„ 

 Some notes on the utility of these species as tuna bait are as 

 follows s 



The Hawaiian anchovy ( Stolephorus purpureus) is a small , 

 delicate, translucent fish known in Hawaii as nehu^ The commercial 

 live-bait fishermen of Hawaii depend almost entirely on the nehu for , 

 bait. For example^ during the year 1950 an estimated 42,000 buckets V 

 of bait, of vdiich approximately 96 percent was nehUg were used. These 

 fish are excellent tuna bait^, for when thrown into the water as chum, 

 they school or *ball up" and stay very close to the fishing vessel. 

 They are too delicate for long-distance transportation and are usually 

 used a day or two after capture. The nehu is caught during the day 

 with beach seines and during the night with lift-nets after the fish 

 have congregated under a submerged electric light (June 1950), To 

 date nehu have been caught only at the main Hawaiian Islands and at 

 none of' the other regions included in this reporto 



The silverside (Atherina insularum) is a small fish charac- 

 terized by a silvery band on tTie~ide of its body. The iaop as it is 

 called in Hawaii j, is also an excellent tuna bait and is used irtien 

 availableo This species vriien thrown into the water as chum also balls 

 up and stays very close to the vessels The iao. is relatively hardy 

 and if handled properly can stand long-distance transportation. Smith 

 and Schaefer (1949) report catching iao at French Frigate Shoals, 



3/ A "•bucket" of bait has been variously estimated to contain from 

 ~ 5- 1/2 to 7 pounds of fish (nehu). These are estimates derived 

 from several attempts to ascertain the weight of aahu con- 

 tained in a typical bucket of bait by the Division of Fish euid 

 and Game, Territory of Hawaii, and by staff of the University 

 of Hawaii Marine Laboratory „ 



