.200 



.150 



.100 



O 



I 



F. 050 



S .000 



I .200 



O 



or .150 



CD 



s 



I 



1 



.100 



.050 



.000 



-] 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 r 



SOUTH PASS 



I 



J 



h 



n i 



r 



Li 



- 





PENSACOLA, OESTIN, PANAMA CITY 



I 



0=BLUE MARLIN 

 D = WHITE MARLIN 

 H3=SAILFISH 



I 



m. 



06 ' 07 ' 08 ' 09 ' 10 II 12 13 ' 14 1 15 ' 16 \7 ' 18 



5.0 



6.7 



10.0 



20.0 5 



5.0 



6.7 



< 



or 



or 



o 



1 



- 10.0 



20.0 



TIME OF DAY 



Figure 4. — Relative abundance of billfishes by time of day for South Pass and northwest Florida, 1971. 



RELATIVE ABUNDANCE BY 

 TEN-MINUTE SQUARES 



To determine the relative abundance of billfishes 

 by ten-minute squares, the data were analyzed by 

 calculating the number of fish raised per hour of 

 fishing within each square during biweekly periods. 

 For South Pass, the biweekly periods were begun 



Table 8.— Sex ratios of billfishes caught off South Pass, 

 1967-71, and off northwest Florida, 1971 (no. of males 

 versus no. of females in parentheses). 



Area 



South Pass 



NW 

 Florida 



Year 



1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 



1971 



1:3.1 

 (12:37) 



Blue 



martin 1:5.6 1:7.7 1:4.8 1:8.0 1:3.3 



(5:28) (6:46) (4:19) (2:16) (7:23) 



White 



martin 1:2.3 1:3.9 1:6.2 1:4.0 1:4.0 1:4.3 



(20:46) (15:59) (4:25) (4:16) (3:12) (28:120) 



Sailfish 1:2.0 1:3.6 1:8.0 1:1.4 1:2.4 1:2.5 

 (10:20) (5:18) (1:8) (8:11) (5:12) (63:159) 



on 26 May and were ended 28 September. Effort 

 before and after this period was very low and 

 sporadic. For northwest Florida, the biweekly 

 periods were begun on 26 May and were ended on 9 

 November for the same reason. 



The data for all species combined for the two 

 areas are illustrated in Figures 6 and 7. The data for 



06 07 08 09 



Figure 5. — Relative abundance of billfishes by time of 

 day. South Pass and northwest Florida combined, 1971. 



277 



