BILLFISH LANDINGS 



The annual landings of billfishes made by Taiwan 

 fisheries from 1962 to 1971 show an increase cor- 

 responding with the increase of the total Taiwan 

 fisheries production (Tables 1 and 2). The landings 

 showed a steady increase from 9,027 metric tons in 

 1962 to 16,573 metric tons in 1971 — a 10-year aver- 

 age rate of increase of 8.4%. The billfish landings as 

 a percentage of the total fish production, however, 

 have not changed significantly during this period, 

 the increase ranging from 2.4% to 3.1%. 



By species, the landings of swordfish ranged from 

 540 to 2,643 metric tons and peaked in 1969; striped 

 marlin from 761 to 2,747 metric tons and peaked in 

 1969; blue marlin from 1,193 to 4,525 metric tons 

 and peaked in 1969; black marlin from 2,323 to 

 3,616 metric tons and peaked in 1971; combined 

 sailfish and other unidentified marlins from 2,676 to 

 5,138 metric tons and peaked in 1968. Among these 

 species, swordfish and blue marlin showed greater 

 fluctuations in annual landings than any other 

 species. 



Prior to 1965, landings made by the inshore long- 

 liners ranked first followed by harpooning and the 

 deep-sea longliners. After 1965, the landings of the 

 deep-sea longliners increased rapidly, and since 

 1968 the deep-sea longliners have surpassed the in- 

 shore longliners. The landings of the deep-sea long- 

 line fishery were only 1,501 metric tons in 1962, 

 increased slightly to 2,654 metric tons in 1966, but 

 thereafter the fishery developed rapidly. As a re- 

 sult, the deep-sea fishery landings of billfishes 

 jumped to 6,363 metric tons in 1968 and reached a 

 record high of 8,760 metric tons in 1971. Landings 

 of the harpoon fishery declined slightly from 2,648 

 metric tons in 1962 to 1,865 metric tons in 1971; the 

 decrease occurred despite an increase in fishing ef- 

 fort. The inshore longline fishery showed a slight 

 increase in annual landings from 4,361 metric tons 

 in 1965 to 6,998 metric tons in 1969. 



In 1967 the Taiwan Fisheries Bureau initiated a 

 survey of production and marketing in the deep-sea 

 longline fishery, with emphasis placed on the col- 

 lection of the landing statistics of billfishes, tunas, 

 and other species. As a result of the survey, excel- 

 lent data are available for fishing effort and catch by 

 species for Taiwan vessels operating throughout the 

 world's oceans. 



In a breakdown of billfish landings made by the 

 deep-sea longline fishery from 1967 to 1971, the In- 

 dian Ocean ranked first, followed by the Atlantic 



Table 4. — Distribution of fishing efforts of Taiwan deep- 

 sea longline fleet, 1967-1971. 





Number of 

 vessels 





Fishing trips 





Year 



Total 



Pacific 



Indian 



Atlantic 



1967 



254 



570 



380 



169 



21 



1968 



333 



1,007 



359 



467 



181 



1969 



396 



1,158 



298 



576 



284 



1970 



418 



1,258 



435 



539 



284 



1971 



457 



'1,182 



495 



409 



278 



'Estimated. 



and the Pacific Oceans (Table 3). The Indian Ocean 

 catches contributed 55% of the yearly total landings 

 of billfishes made in 1967, 57% in 1968, 50% in 1969, 

 49% in 1970, and 53% in 1971. The annual landings 

 of billfishes from the Atlantic Ocean accounted for 

 20%, 30%, 36%, 31%, and 28% for the years 1967 to 

 1971, respectively. The Pacific Ocean catches ac- 

 counted for 25%, 13%, 14%, 21%, and 19% for the 

 years 1967 to 1971, respectively. The percentage of 

 the various species in the annual billfish landings 

 made by the deep-sea longliners in the three ocean 

 waters during 1967-1971 showed rather large annual 

 fluctuations. The blue marlin was dominant in the 

 Pacific and the Indian Oceans, while in the Atlantic 

 the swordfish was the dominant species. 



Tables 1 and 2 show the annual billfish landings 

 by the various fisheries by species from 1962 to 

 1971. Table 3 shows annual landings of billfishes by 

 the deep-sea longliners by ocean from 1967 to 1971. 

 Table 4 shows the distribution of fishing effort of 

 the Taiwan deep-sea longline fleet from 1967 to 

 1971. 



REFERENCES 



HONG, C.S. 



1969. Main species of marine animals and plants in Taiwan. 

 Sung Yen Co. 

 STRASBURG. D.W. 



1970. A report on the billfishes of the central Pacific Ocean. 

 Bull. Mar. Sci. Gulf Caribb. 20:575-604. 

 TAIWAN FISHERIES BUREAU. 



1962-1969. Fisheries Yearbook. Taiwan Area. 

 1967-1970. Report on survey of production and marketing of 

 Taiwan's tuna longline fishery. 

 YANG, H.-C. and T.-P. CHEN. 



1971. Common food fishes of Taiwan. Chinese-American 

 Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction. Fish. Ser. 

 10, 98 p. 



335 



* U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1974-796-145/5 REGION 10 



