INTRODUCTION 



Since its Inauguration in 1949 the Pacific Oceanic Fishery- 

 Investigations (POFI) of the Ua So Fish and Wildlife Service has 

 undertaken various research projects in order to explore and develop 

 the high-seas fishery resources of the various territories and pos- 

 sessions of the United States in the tropical amd subtropical Pacifie 

 Ocean, One project was to conduct exploratory live-=bait fishing in 

 the central Pacific (figo l)o 



The vast area included in figure 1 at present supports 

 only one importaat live-bait pole-and-=line fishery -= that which is 

 carried on in the immediate vicinity of the Hawaiian IslandSo Before 

 the iiwestigations by POFI there were sporadic attempts to fish for 

 tunaii' by the live-bait method in this areao The attempts for which 

 information is available were by the seiner-draggerj, Oregon^ which 

 was converted into a live-bait boat and s^hich fished m the vicinity 

 of the Line Islands (Smith and Schaefer 1949) and the main and lee- 

 ward islands of the Hawaiian group (Eckles 1949) in 19489 the tuna 

 clippers Pioneer and Gal i star,, which did exploratory fishing in the 

 vicinity of the Line Islands during 1947 and 1949 respootivelyp and 

 the Hawaiian sampan^/ Tradewind, which fished for tuna at the Line 

 Islands during January and February of 1953o The POFI vessels Hugh 

 E° Smith Etnd Henr y O'Malley-p both built along -(^erican west coa°st 

 tuna clipper lineS;, conducted exploratory live-bait fishing for 

 tuna in the vicinity of the Line^ PhoeniXp and Hawaiian islands 

 during 1949 p 1950j, and 1951 „ This report deals primarily with 

 the observations made on these two vessels o 



_l/ Yellowf in tuna ( Ne othunnu s mac ro pteru s ) „ skipjack (Katsuwonus 

 pelamis)j, black skipjack~(E^'fchiy^nus yaito)g and bigeye~tuna~~~ 

 (Parathunnus sibi ) o 



2/ The sampans (figo 2) in use in the Hav^aiian live-=bait fishery 

 during 1950 ranged in size from 6 5 to 92 feet overall lengthy 

 the 92-footer having a gross tonnage of 77 tonso Typically 

 a sampan is a modified V-bottoraed vessel j, with a narrow beam 

 in relation to its length,, straight raking stem„ well developed 

 sheer, narrow entry ^ and overhanging sponsonso There is no 

 mast and boom and the vessel is generally powered by a 165 

 to 330 Ho Po diesel engine „ A pilot house with a flying bridge 

 is located amidshipSp and sleeping quarters are located forwardo 

 Fishing is done from the deck at the stern of the vessel » Sam- 

 pans carry no ref ;-igeration except for some ice which is used 

 to ice the fish down after capture. They have 2 to 6 bait 

 wellSp which have a series of screened holes on the bottom 

 to provide circulationo 



