PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL XIV, July I960 
258 
TABLE 1 
POFI Albacore Tag Recoveries 
NO. 
DATE 
TAGGED 
POSITION OF RELEASE 
DATE 
RECAP- 
TURED 
POSITION OF RECAPTURE 
NET 
DISTANCE 
DAYS 
OUT 
Latitude 
Longitude 
Latitude 
Longitude 
TRAVELLED 
(miles) 
1 
10/4/54 
46° 30' N. 
159° 18' W. 
11/28/55 
35° 45' N. 
157° 39' E. 
2.055 
420 
2 
10/5/54 
43° 31' N. 
161° 16' W. 
1/19/56 
35° 23' N. 
141° 20' E. 
2.670 
471 
3 
10/9/55 
42° 16' N. 
147° 16' W. 
6/24/56 
31° 54' N. 
158° 37' E. 
2,660 
259 
4 
10/17/55 
44° 55' N. 
144° 48' W. 
8/1/56 
31° 21' N. 
117° 17' W. 
1,515 
288 
5 
7/31/56 
44° 31' N. 
174° 55' W. 
7/23/57 
30° 08' N. 
119° 03' W. 
2,775 
357 
6 
8/1/57 
34° 49' N. 
121° 57' W. 
9/17/57 
34° 49' N. 
121° 26' W. 
26 
47 
7 
7/22/57 
35°43'N. 
122° 58' W. 
10/7/57 
3 6° 24' N. 
123° 07' W. 
41 
77 
g 
10/16/55 
43° 40' N. 
144° 40' W. 
11/23/57 
33° 22' N. 
174° 07' E. 
2,025 
769 
9 
11/17/56 
36° 44' N. 
127° 37' W. 
11/17/57 
38° 08' N. 
174° 53' E. 
2,800 
365 
10 
7/23/57 
42° 20' N. 
127° 33' W. 
5/26/58 
32° 15' N. 
144° 15' E. 
4,230 
287 
11* 
7/22/57 
47° 00' N. 
126° 18' W, 
6/10/58 
33° 40' N. 
144° 00' E. 
4,300 
323 
12 
7/16/57 
44° 47' N. 
130° 04' W. 
7/11/58 
30° 00' N.f 
118° 45'W.f 
1,035 
360 
13 
7/16/57 
44° 47' N. 
130° 04' W. 
8/22/58 
32° 00' N.f 
122° 00' W.f 
860 
402 
14 
11/14/56 
38° 00' N. 
128° 25' W. 
8/23/58 
32° 15' N. 
122° 30' W. 
455 
647 
15 
11/21/56 
35° 21' N. 
123° 57' W. 
7/21/58 
34° 00' N. 
122° 10' W. 
130 
607 
* Fish No. 11 was marked with a POFI dart tag; all others with California "spaghetti” tags, 
f Approximate position of recapture. 
10, 11) were made by the Japanese in their 
summer live-bait and winter long-line fisheries, 
while the remaining 8 were made by Americans 
in the West Coast fishery. 
With the exception of two American recov- 
eries ( Nos. 6 and 7 ) which were made within 
47 and 77 days, respectively, of the date of re- 
lease, the remaining 13 represented relatively 
long periods between release and recovery, 
ranging from 259 to 769 days. While all of 
these long-term recoveries provided valuable 
Fig. 1. An albacore (recovery No. 4) with a Cali- 
fornia type-G tag attached. This fish was at liberty for 
approximately 10 months before recapture (Table 1). 
information on the movements of albacore in 
the North Pacific, complete data on growth were 
not obtained since information on several of 
the recoveries did not include length or weight 
measurements. 
MOVEMENTS SHOWN BY TAGGED ALBACORE 
The net movements of the tagged fish are 
depicted in Figure 4. Perhaps most significant 
is the migration of fish between the major fish- 
eries. A fish tagged in the American fishery off 
California (No. 9) moved across into the Jap- 
anese mid-ocean winter long-line grounds to be 
retaken there. Two others tagged in the West 
Coast fishery off the Pacific northwest (Nos. 10, 
1 1 ) made a complete trans-Pacific migration 
and were recaptured in the Japanese live-bait 
fishery. Albacore tagged in mid-ocean north of 
Hawaii migrated into the West Coast fishery 
(Nos. 4, 5) as well as into the Japanese long- 
line (Nos. 1, 2, 8) and live-bait (No. 3) fish- 
eries. Tag recoveries reported by the California 
Department of Fish and Game also showed 
movements of albacore from waters off Califor- 
nia to the coast of Japan (Ganssle and Clemens, 
1953). Movement in the opposite direction, 
from the Japanese fishery into the American 
fishery, has yet to be demonstrated. 
