Crockford: Archeological evidence of Thunnus thynnus off British Columbia and northern Washington 
23 
era Pacific (Rothschild, 1991). Hubbs (1948) partially 
addressed this issue in his presentation of evidence 
that mean water temperatures in southern Califor- 
nia were warmer in the mid-to-late 1800’s ( 1850-80). 
Such water temperatures appeared to be associated 
with distinctly tropical fauna that no longer occur so 
far north. This period corresponds roughly to that 
mentioned in the northwest coast ethnographic ac- 
counts as the last time when large tuna were hunted 
and may reflect a recurring pattern of occasional 
warm periods along the whole coast of North America. 
Because the surface-feeding behavior of large blue- 
fin tuna makes them very conspicuous in inshore 
waters, it would be extremely unlikely for adult tuna 
to go totally unnoticed for the last 100 years in Brit- 
ish Columbia waters (even if they could not be caught 
or were indeed mistaken for marine mammals in 
deeper waters). It seems reasonable to assume un- 
der the circumstances that modern records are cor- 
rect: large adult bluefin tuna have not frequented 
the northern waters of the eastern Pacific during the 
last 100 years. The reasons for their absence, how- 
ever, remain to be determined. 
Clearly, more investigation into the history of the 
distribution and harvesting of all age classes of blue- 
fin tuna within the entire north Pacific will be nec- 
essary before we really understand the implications 
of the archeological remains reported in this study. 
Complex interactions of changes in ecological condi- 
tions and harvesting pressures on various age classes 
over the last 100 years probably have affected and 
may have had unexpected repercussions on the popu- 
lation structure of Pacific bluefin tuna. A better un- 
derstanding of the distribution of adult tuna in the 
north Pacific through inclusion of archeological 
records may help document perturbations in the 
modern fishery. 
Acknowledgments 
The author would like to thank Richard Inglis, for- 
merly of the Royal British Columbia Museum, 
Victoria, British Columbia, for his collection of eth- 
nographic information and Bruce Collette at the 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., for con- 
firmation of the taxonomic identity of the archeologi- 
cal material and for the loan of comparative speci- 
mens. Terry Foreman, a former associate of the In- 
ter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, La Jolla, 
California, and Skip McKinnel, of the Department 
of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Nanaimo, British 
Columbia, both supplied unbridled enthusiasm, en- 
couragement and advice. The Royal British Colum- 
bia Museum in Victoria provided assistance in han- 
dling loaned material and photography. Greg Monks 
of the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, helped enor- 
mously by setting aside tuna vertebrae as they were 
excavated from archeological deposits in Barkley 
Sound and allowed me immediate access to the ma- 
terial. This paper has been greatly improved through 
revision of earlier drafts by several anonymous re- 
viewers; their efforts are much appreciated. Raw data 
are available on request from the author. 
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