Albacore- — Otsu 
265 
exploited for about 4 years before it even attains 
maturity. 
SUMMARY 
Of 1,201 albacore tagged in the temperate 
North Pacific Ocean by POFI between January, 
1954, and August, 1957, 15 recoveries (1.2 per 
cent) were reported. These recoveries indicate 
considerable movement of fish in the North 
Pacific. Albacore tagged in mid-ocean north of 
Hawaii have been retaken in the American West 
Coast fishery as well as in the Japanese fisheries. 
Certain recoveries were of fish which migrated 
across the Pacific from the American West Coast 
to the vicinity of Japan. There is indication that 
Americans and the Japanese are exploiting the 
same population of albacore in the temperate 
North Pacific Ocean. 
The data on growth, although insufficient for 
a conclusive study, were subjected to a prelimi- 
nary analysis by Walford’s method of growth 
curve transformation, and the resulting data 
were also fitted in a Gompertz equation. The 
derived growth curves are presented. 
At least those portions of the growth curves 
for which there are observed data appear to be 
a reliable representation of albacore growth. 
These curves are curvilinear, contrary to several 
linear albacore growth curves reported in the 
past by workers who based their studies mainly 
on the vertebral method. The linearity of the 
latter curves suggests that the age of albacore 
cannot be determined by the vertebral method; 
the rings on the centra are probably directly as- 
sociated with growth rather than with age. 
The results indicate that the albacore is a 
relatively slow-growing tuna with a rather long 
life span. A significant portion of the life span 
is passed in the immature state. 
Although POFI in cooperation with the Japa- 
nese has tagged 270 albacore in the Japanese 
live-bait fishery, and the Japanese have recently 
started a tagging program in the western Pacific, 
none of these fish has been recovered in the 
American fishery. In view of the fact that the 
Japanese exploit generally larger albacore than 
the Americans, the chances for recovery in the 
American fishery of Japanese-tagged albacore are 
far less than for Japanese recovery of American- 
tagged fish. 
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