longest being 250 nautical miles. Figure 7 repre- 

 sents a summation of the major migrations of striped 

 marlin in the eastern Pacific as determined by the 

 cooperative tagging program. In general, recoveries 

 of striped marlin in the eastern Pacific were short- 

 term (89 days average) and the average migration 

 distance was 281 nautical miles. 



Certain recommendations can be made regarding 

 the future conduct of cooperative tagging programs 

 in the Pacific for billfishes. These are as follows: 



1. Encourage and develop billfish tagging (sport 

 and commercial) throughout the entire Pacific for a 

 better understanding of the migration patterns over 

 the entire area for the major commercial and sport 

 species. In the eastern and central Pacific addi- 

 tional tagging should be conducted off the Hawaiian 

 Islands, southern California, Acapulco, 

 Panama/Ecuador/Peru, Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, 

 and Samoa. 



2. Attempt to free-tag (harpoon method) or tag 

 billfishes caught by non-injurious fishing techniques 

 in sufficient numbers to determine hooking mortal- 

 ity. 



3. Consider development of improved tags and 

 tagging equipment and experimentally test both the 

 metal tipped and plastic dart tags for histological 

 compatibility and differential shedding by double- 

 tagging billfishes or double-tagging large pelagic 

 species in aquaria tests. 



4. If additional tagging programs are to be under- 

 taken in the Pacific in the future the programs 

 should be coordinated between countries with re- 

 gards to types of tags used, locations and seasons of 

 tagging, publicity, recovery and reward procedures, 

 to achieve the greatest return of information. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Firstly, the success of the tagging program results 

 from the interest and cooperation of the several 

 thousands of billfish anglers who have actively par- 

 ticipated by tagging and releasing their billfishes. 

 Secondly, the cooperation of the managers of the 



various fishing resorts, charter boat skippers, and 

 big game fishing clubs throughout the Pacific and 

 the individuals allied with these organizations for 

 they have been an important factor in the success of 

 the program. 



Individually, I would like to recognize Frank 

 Mather III, Horace Witherspoon, William Craig, 

 Gerald Talbot, Wally Giguere, Johanna Alban, and 

 M. Eldridge for their interest and hard work on be- 

 half of the cooperative tagging programs in the 

 Pacific. 



LITERATURE CITED 



BECKETT. J. S. 



1970. Swordfish, shark and tuna tagging 1961-69. Fish. Res. 

 Board Can., Tech. Rep. 193, 13 p. 

 GOTTSCHALK, J.S. 



1972. Longlines and billfish. U.S. Dep. Commer.. Natl. 

 Mar. Fish. Serv. Presented (at) Outdoor Writers Assoc. 

 Am., Mazatlan, Mexico, 6/26/72, mimeo., 21 p. 

 JOSEPH. J., W. L. KLAWE, and C. J. ORANGE. 



1974. A review of the longline fishery for billfishes in the 

 eastern Pacific Ocean. In Richard S. Shomura and Fran- 

 cis Williams (editors). Proceedings of the International 

 Billfish Symposium, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. 9-12 August 

 1972. Part 2. Review and Contributed Papers. U.S. Dep. 

 Commer., NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS SSRF-675. p. 

 309-33 1 . 



KUME, S.and J. JOSEPH. 



1969. Size composition and sexual maturity of billfish caught 

 by the Japanese longline fishery in the Pacific Ocean east 

 of 130°W. [In Engl.] Bull. Far Seas Fish. Res. Lab. 

 (Shimizu), 2:115-162. 

 MATHER, F.J.. III. 



1972. Cooperative Game Fish Tagging Program. Summary 

 of results, prepared for NOAA/NMFS Conference on 

 Cooperation with Sport Fishermen, February 7-11, 1972, 

 Washington. D.C. Woods Hole Oceanogr. Inst.. 16 p. 

 SCHAEFER, M. B., B. M. CHATWIN. and G. BROAD- 

 HEAD. 



1961. Tagging and recovery of tropical tunas. 1955-1959. [In 

 Span, and Engl.]. Bull. Inter-Am. Trop. Tuna Comm. 

 5:343-455. 

 STRASBURG, D.W. 



1969. Billfishes of the central Pacific Ocean. U.S. Fish 

 Wildl. Serv., Circ. 311, 11 p. 



237 



