DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION OF TUNA FISHERIES 151 



total value of all categories of fish products. In Japan, they are of 

 major importance both for domestic use and for export. They support 

 an important industry in Peru, and are of growing importance in Aus- 

 tralia. It is, perhaps, most convenient to consider the development 

 and present status of the fisheries by species. 



Albacore 



The albacore (Thunnus germo) occurs in commercial quantities 

 in temperate waters of both northern and southern hemispheres. Tuna 

 fishing in the Eastern Pacific had its inception in the first decade of 

 this century in Southern California, where albacore occur during the 

 summer and fall months in inshore surface waters, where they may be 

 captured by trolled lures or by pole and line, using live bait for chum. 

 Small craft, fishing only a few miles from shore, supplied the infant 

 canning industry. Since the fishing depended on the seasonal occur- 

 rence in inshore water of an oceanic, migratory fish, availability was 

 notably erratic from year to year. By 1925, however, the fishery pro- 

 duced 22 million pounds of albacore. In 1926 the albacore failed to 

 appear in appreciable numbers, and the landings dropped to two-and- 

 a-half million pounds. They continued scarce for a decade in waters 

 of California and Baja California covered by the tuna fleet. The er- 

 ratic and seasonal occurrence of albacore led the fishermen to turn to 

 the tropical tunas, the yellowfin and skipjack, which range north to 

 California during the summer, and to extend their operations south- 

 ward, first off the Mexican coast and later farther south, in order to 

 extend the season of fishing and to find greater concentrations of these 

 species. The failure of the albacore fishery in 1926 gave tremendous 

 impetus to the development of the fishery for tropical species, which will 

 be discussed further below. 



In 1936, albacore began to appear again in greater numbers in 

 California inshore waters, and have since continued to support an im- 

 portant amount of fishing. In 1937, fishermen off Oregon, Washington, 

 and British Columbia discovered that albacore occurred there, too, in 

 the summer at some little distance offshore, and began to fish for them. 

 They have continued to do so since. 



The present albacore fishery of the Eastern Pacific extends from 

 Baja California to British Columbia, being pursued only during the 

 summer and fall months when the fish appear in surface schools in 

 waters not far from shore, and can be captured by trolling lures or by 

 pole and line using live-bait chum. Some fishing is done as far as 150 

 miles from the coast, but most of it is done within a much narrower 

 range. Albacore are known, from observations of research vessels, to 

 occur a good deal further offshore than they are now fished. Because 



