Albacore Migration and Growth in the North 
Pacific Ocean as Estimated from Tag Recoveries 
Tamio Otsu 1 
The ALBACORE, Germo alalunga ( Bonnaterre ) , 
is considered a choice tuna by Americans be- 
cause of its excellent canning quality. It is fished 
by Americans along the Pacific coast of the 
United States and by the Japanese in North 
Pacific waters extending from the coast of Japan 
to about the 180th meridian. In recent years 
the Japanese have extended their albacore fish- 
ing grounds to tropical and subtropical waters 
of the Pacific and Indian oceans ( Mimura, 1957; 
Van Campen 2 ) , and more recently, to Atlantic 
waters. 
A tagging program was instituted by the 
Pacific Oceanic Fishery Investigations (POFI) 
[in 1959 it became the Bureau of Commercial 
Fisheries, Hawaii Area] as a part of an albacore 
research project being conducted under Public 
Laws 329 (80th Congress) and 466 (Salton- 
stall-Kennedy Act, 83rd Congress). Employing 
the California type-G "spaghetti” tag (Wilson, 
1953) (Fig. 1), and to a limited extent, the 
POFI- developed dart tag (Yamashita and Wal- 
dron, 1958), tagging was conducted on albacore 
taken by POFI vessels on exploratory cruises to 
the North Pacific. Intensive albacore tagging 
has been conducted on the West Coast by the 
California Department of Fish and Game and 
data on some of their recoveries have been pub- 
lished (Blunt, 1954; Ganssle and Clemens, 
1953). This report summarizes the tagging re- 
sults obtained by POFI, and includes a prelim- 
inary analysis of albacore migration and growth. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
The success of a tagging program depends 
largely on the cooperation of the fishermen mak- 
1 Fishery Research Biologist, Bureau of Commercial 
Fisheries, Biological Laboratory, Honolulu, Hawaii 
Manuscript received December 11, 1958. 
2 Van Campen, W. G. MS. The Japanese summer 
albacore fishery. Submitted for publication as a re- 
search report. 
ing the recoveries, their interest in the program, 
and the care with which they record and trans- 
mit data pertinent to each recovery. We extend 
our gratitude to the numerous commercial fisher- 
men and research agencies, both in the United 
States and in Japan, who have rendered excel- 
lent cooperation in this respect. 
The writer is indebted to Dr. Robert H. Riff- 
enburgh of the University of Hawaii for guid- 
ance in the growth analysis. 
ALBACORE TAG RELEASES 
Between January, 1954, and August, 1957, a 
total of 1,201 albacore was tagged and released 
in the temperate North Pacific (Fig. 2). In- 
cluded in the total are 270 albacore tagged in 
the Japanese live-bait fishing grounds in the 
spring of 1956 (Van Campen and Murphy, 
1957). The remaining tag releases were made 
in the central and eastern North Pacific, and 
consisted of 855 fish taken by surface trolling 
and 76 taken by long-lining. 
The size-frequency distribution of the tagged 
albacore is given in Figure 3. The 270 fish 
tagged off Japan are not included since they 
were not measured. Measurements were made, 
however, on samples of fish from each school 
in which tagging was conducted, and these in- 
dicated a relatively narrow size range of 60.4 
cm. to 83.4 cm. in length. In addition to these, 
94 troll-caught fish tagged off the California 
coast are not included since no measurements 
were recorded. The long-line gear accounted for 
a wide size range of fish (50 to 120 cm.) while 
surface trolling took fish up to 87 cm. in length 
(Fig. 3). 
ALBACORE TAG RECOVERIES 
As of September, 1958, 15 (1.2 per cent) of 
POFFs tag releases had been recovered (Table 
1). Seven of the recoveries (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 
257 
