166 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



THE ATLANTIC TUNA FISHERY 



The fishery for tuna on the Atlantic coast in past years has been 

 conducted ahnost entirely by sport fishermen; however, limited quan- 

 tities have been taken incidentally in fisheries conducted primarily for 

 other species. The interest in the sport fishery for this species has 

 increased in recent years, and a considerable volume of the sportmen's 

 catch frequently finds its way into our markets. In the capture of 

 tuna, sport fishermen usually employ harpoons adapted from the 

 swordfish fishery, hand lines, or troll lines. During the past year, 

 several fares of tuna were reported landed at New England ports by 

 vessels operating purse seines, which are one of the primary accepted 

 gears used in the commercial fishery for tuna and tunalike fishes on 

 the Pacific coast. Reports, of especial interest at this time, are that 

 a modern purse seine vessel, the Western Explorer, has sailed from the 

 Pacific coast through the Panama Canal to engage in a commercial 

 fishery for tuna and mackerel in the New England fisheries and that 

 the New England commercial fishery interests have already produced 

 limited packs of canned tuna. 



The commercial exploitation of this species on the Atlantic coast 

 will be observed with great interest, especially in view of the rapid 

 growth and present importance of the tuna industry in California 

 where the Pacific coast industry is centered. It is most interesting 

 to observe that the catch of tuna and tunalike fishes in California was 

 of little consequence prior to about 1910, but today the value of the 

 catch of these species ranks second only to salmon among all of the 

 fisheries of the Pacific Coast States. The catch of tuna and tunalike 

 fishes in 1936 amounting to 132,470,000 pounds, valued at $6,565,000 

 to the fishermen. Tuna also ranks among the most important fish- 

 eries of the world. Based upon the most recent available data, the 

 world's annual catch amounted to 675,000,000 pounds, valued at about 

 $24,000,000. This represents about 2 percent of the volume and 3 

 percent of the value of the catch of the world's fisheries for all species. 

 Japan alone contributed 68 percent to the world's catch of tuna. 

 Following in order were the United States with 21 percent; Spain, 4 

 percent; France, 3 percent; and Portugal, 1 percent. Other countries 

 whose annual catch exceeded 1,000,000 pounds were Italy, Algeria, 

 Tunisia, and Tripolitania. 



NORTH PACIFIC HALIBUT FISHERY 



During the past year George Roger Chute, assistant fishery econo- 

 mist, continued his economic study of the halibut fishery and industry 

 of the North Pacific which was discussed in last year's report. This 

 mvestigation covers a study of halibut vessel operation, transportation, 

 warehousing, merchandizing practices, consimier attitude toward hali- 

 but, and a chronology of the fishery from its inception on the North 

 Pacific. 



GEOGRAPHICAL TRENDS IN THE PRODUCTION OF CANNED OYSTERS 



The earhest oyster canning industry of any consequence in this 

 country was centered on Chesapeake Bay. As late as 1921 Maryland 

 was the principal producing State for canned and hermetically sealed 

 oysters, contributing 153,000 standard cases to the United States total 

 pack of 442,000 cases. More recently, the demand for shucked stock 



