men use an outboard skiff loaded with a sur- 

 round net to scout for baitfish that school in 

 shallow waters of bays and harbors or near 

 river mouths. Having located a school, the 

 fishermen surround it and then partially "dry 

 up" the net to form a bag to hold the school. 

 To avoid killing the bait, the fishermen "swim" 

 the net-enclosed baitfish back to the vessel and 

 transfer them into baitwells. Several sets may 

 be required to obtain enough bait to justify 

 fishing. We considered a set as a unit of bait- 

 ing effort in this study. For additional infor- 

 mation on baiting in Hawaiian waters, see June 

 (1951). 



Prior to 1968, Pearl Harbor was primarily a 

 day-baiting ground for the Hawaiian tuna fleet. 

 In June-August 1967, the seven vessels baited 

 there 36 times and caught 1,093 buckets of bait 

 in 108 sets or an average of 10.1 buckets per 

 set (table 1). Mortalities at the time of capture 

 were low, averaging 1.3 percent, and the amount 

 released--either back into the water or trans- 

 ferred to another vessel because of an excess 

 in catch — was 4.1 percent. Day baiting in Pearl 

 Harbor usually lasted a little over 3 hours. 

 Figure 3 shows that area 08, near the mouth of 

 the Waiawa Stream in Middle Loch, was highly 

 productive, 



A ground for both a day and a night fishery 

 for bait, Kaneohe Bay is usually the most pro- 

 ductive baiting ground in the State, Catches in 

 41 days of baiting totaled 2,040 buckets of day 



bait in 139 sets or an average of 14,7 buckets 

 per set, which is roughly 50 percent larger 

 than the catch per set at Pearl Harbor (table 1). 

 Mortalities, however, averaged about three 

 times as much at Kaneohe Bay as at Pearl 

 Harbor with roughly 3,8 percent of the total 

 catch dead from various causes on the baiting 

 grounds. The data also show that whereas bait 

 released averaged 1.2 buckets for each day 

 baited at Pearl Harbor, bait released at Kane- 

 ohe Bay averaged 3,9 buckets per day of baiting 

 or roughly three times more than at Pearl 

 Harbor, In time spent baiting, there appeared 

 to be little difference between the two grounds. 

 High producing areas in Kaneohe Bay can be 

 seen in figure 3 — area 47 off Waiahole and area 

 58 off Heeia had catches of 795 and 304 buckets, 

 respectively. 



Referred to frequently by the fishermen as 

 "Kalihi" and understood to mean waters off the 

 district of Kalihi in Honolulu, area 64 was the 

 most productive in the Keehi Lagoon-Honolulu 

 Harbor baiting grounds (fig, 3), Keehi Lagoon 

 day bait catches — combined with those from 

 Honolulu Harbor — totaled 506 buckets or about 

 half the amount caught at Pearl Harbor (table 

 1), In 22 days of baiting, 51 sets yielded an 

 average of 9.9 buckets per set or roughly the 

 same amount per set as at Pearl Harbor. Bait- 

 ing at Keehi Lagoon usually lasted a little longer 

 than at any of the other baiting grounds for 

 some unknown reason. Of the total bait caught, 



Table 1, — Number of days or nights baited, catches, mortalities and releases, 

 time spent baiting, and catch rates in baiting grounds fished by seven 

 Hawaiian skipjack tuna vessels , June-August 1967 



Baiting 



Days 

 baited 



Bait 

 trans- 

 ferred 

 to well 



Bait 

 died 



Bait 

 released 



Total 

 catch 



Total 

 time 



Mean 

 baiting 

 time 



Catch 

 per 

 hour 



Total 

 sets 



Catch 

 per 

 set 



Catch 

 per 

 day 



Catch 



per 

 night 





Number 



Bucket 



Bucket 



Bucket 



Bucket 



Minute 



Minute 



Bucket 



Number 



Bucket 



Bucket 



Bucket 



Day: 



























Pearl Harbor 36 



1,034 



14 



45 



1,093 



5,870 



190 



11.2 



108 



10.1 



30.4 





Kaneohe Bay 



41 



1,803 



77 



160 



2,040 



7,868 



192 



15.6 



139 



14.7 



49,8 





Keehi Lagoon 22 



457 



13 



36 



506 



4,427 



201 



6.8 



51 



9,9 



23,0 





Other areas 



9 



292 



6 



6 



304 



1,703 



189 



10.7 



21 



14,5 



33,8 





Total 



108 









3,943 









319 



12.4 



36.5 





Night: 



























Kaneohe Bay 



13 



170 











170 



7,227 



556 



1.4 



18 



9.4 





13.1 



Keehi Lagoon 101 



1,092 



11 



15 



1,118 



47,621 



471 



1,4 



108 



10.4 





11.1 



Other areas 



3 



24 











24 



1,220 



407 



1.2 



3 



8.0 





8,0 



Total 



117 









1,312 









129 



10,2 





11.2 



