8 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 13, No. 4 



with shrimp trawls will probably provide data on the range of these fish, but trawling 

 with fish trawls will be necessary to learn the possibilities for commercial use of 



these stocks. 



note: a more comprehensive report of the Oregon 's 1950 gulf of Mexico fishery explorations will 

 be published at a later date by the service as a fishery leaflet. 



"S.S. PACIFIC EXPLORER 

 Part IV-Personnel and the Movement of Materials 



The tuna in southern Pacific waters are taken chiefly by either 

 of two methods, purse seining or live-bait fishing. Purse seines are 

 huge encircling nets varying from 325 to 425 fathoms in length and 450 

 to 700 meshes (4%-lnch mesh by stretched measure) in depth depending 



ing on the size of 

 the vessel. The net 

 is set about a school 

 of tuna and the bottom 

 is closed or "pursed" 

 to surround the fish 

 In a "bowl" of netting. 

 As the seine is hauled 

 aboard, the fish be- 

 came siiff Iciently 

 concentrated within 

 a small area to be 

 removed by brailing 

 with power- ope/Tated 

 dip nets. 



Hook —and —line 

 gear is used in the 

 live-bait method of 

 fishing. A supply of live bait is captured near shore in foreign or 

 domestic waters. After capture, the bait is transported to the fishing 

 grounds where it is thrown overboard in the immediate vicinity of schools 

 of tuna, thereby attracting and exciting them. Simultaneously, either 

 artificial lures or baited hooks, attached to stout bamboo poles by 

 lines and leaders, are thrown overboard by the crewmen working individually 

 or in teams to capture the tuna. The live-bait system of tuna fishing 

 is responsible for the major proportion of the production, but the purse- 

 seine method is becoming of increasing importance. 



—Fishery Leaflet 326 



