with weight of fish (r = -0.687). The data in figure 3 indicate an inverse correlation between flavor and weight of fish (r = 0.558). Both correlations are highly significant.

Table 2

160

These relationships were found even considering the variations in handling aboard the catch boat, which variations are known to occur in commercial catching practice. These variations included delays in putting the fish to freeze, the use of the brine or air well in freezing, and the stunning of hardto-handle fish.

Examination after precook and examination of the resulting pack indicated that the color of the meat from the larger fish tended towards a dark tan color and the meat from the smaller fish tended towards light pink. Changes in texture also were found to be associated with increased weight. More moisture was retained in the larger fish after being precooked, and the larger fish were often slippery or spongy to the touch. Muscle fibers were longer and tougher as the fish became larger; thus it became increasingly difficult to rub the meat

through a wire mesh screen preparatory to determination of the Munsell value. The texture score assigned refers to the eating quality and reflects the sum of subtexture factors of moisture, firmness, and toughness. As such, the texture score is not especially indicative of the textural changes associated with increasing weight of fish. With increasing weight of fish, the flavor of the pack changed from a pleasant, mild, tangy fish flavor to something quite flat and not characteristic of the best canned fish. It is interesting to note that the Munsell values and quality scores of the fish pack - Males: ed immediately after receipt are only slightly higher on the average than are those obtained for the fish canned 8 months after receipt.

Canned Product Evaluation Data on 8 Gulf of Mexico Yellowfin Tuna

Code
Number

Whole
Frozen Fish

Caught in August 1957

Weight of

Evaluation of Canned Products

Honeycombing!/

Texture Appearance Flavor Munsell
Score2/ Score2/ Value

+ or

83

93

93

6.43

73

97

93

6.37

2628

333

88888

88588

ANOMALOUS FISHGREENING: The two females 1-10AA and 2-10BB, which yielded canned meat of marked low flavor, were of low quality after being precooked. Notes taken at the time described the loins as being honeycombed and dark tan with greening. The loins of 2-10BB were moist and slippery, whereas those of 1-10AA had a heavy custard-like curd between segments of muscle. Since no unusual conditions of handling were noted, the greening, in at least this case, was an unusual condition not related to the method of handling. No other fish had marked greening after being precooked. The lowest flavor score and one of the very low Munsell-value scores were found in meat packed from fish 1-5. Fish 1-5, after being precooked, had loins uniformly dark and with much gelatinous material between the segments of muscle. Fish 1-10BB received almost the same treatment, yet the canned meat scored unusually high both in flavor and in Munsell value.

HONEYCOM BING: None of the honeycombing (marked + in tables 1 and 2) was of an extensive nature. Most often, the honeycombing appeared as a few small (less than -inch diameter) voids between the large lateral muscles and the smaller lateral "eyes" at the extreme dorsal and ventral positions. The next most frequent location was in the region of the nape. None of the fish packed immediately after receipt had any evident honeycombing.

YIELD: Dark meat accounted for a constant 5.5 percent of the weight of the whole uncooked fish. The total light-meat scrap and dark meat was fairly constant at 11 percent of the weight of fish. The percentage of canned meat yield increased from 30 percent from a 60-pound fish to 38 percent from a 120-pound fish.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

All of the Gulf of Mexico yellowfin tuna canned in this experiment could be graded as "light meat" according to the proposed tuna standards. The quality of the pack, based mainly on flavor and color, decreased from optimum with packs made from small fish towards less desirable flavor and color with packs made from the larger fish. This progressive decrease of flavor and color of canned meat with weight of fish overshadowed the effect, if any, of the variations in handling these yellowfin aboard the M/V Oregon.

TAGGED SAILFISH RECAPTURED TWICE

Sailfish evidently do not learn from experience, if they are to be judged by an authenticated story emanating from Palm Beach. The story relates that the same sailfish was caught by two different anglers fishing from two different boats on the same day, and there is no doubt that it was the same sailfish.

The sailfish, measuring 7 ft. 2 in. in length, was first caught by a woman fishing from the charter cruiser Bacardi in the morning of January 26, 1956. The fish was tagged with a Marine Laboratory, University of Miami, dart-type tag and released.

Just about noon of the same day, a sailfish, bearing a tag, was hooked, fought, and boated by another fisherman. Incredible as it may seem, the tag (Number 10180) was the one affixed to the sailfish 11⁄2 hours earlier. The tag, along with an explanatory letter from the fishing editor of the Palm Beach Post-Times, was received at The Marine Laboratory by the research instructor on the Laboratory staff who is in charge of the sailfish tagging program.

To date, seven sailfish bearing Marine Laboratory tags have been re-caught and reported. So far, the sailfish tagging program at the Laboratory has been going on for 10 years, with about 2,550 sailfish tagged. Three types of tags have been used: (1) a monel-metal cattle ear tag that is attached to the pectoral fin of the fish prior to the release, (2) a neoprene ring tag that is slipped over the bill of the sailfish, and (3) a dart tag that is imbedded in the fish alongside the forward end of the dorsal fin. Four of the seven sailfish so far tagged and recaught have borne the cattle ear tag, indicating that this is the best type of tag for sailfish. (The Marine Laboratory, University of Miami, Miami, Fla.)

1957: THE YEAR OF WARM WATER AND
SOUTHERN FISH OFF CALIFORNIA COAST

ABSTRACT

A preliminary report on oceanographic conditions and the pelagic fisheries of California during 1957 prepared for the Marine Research Committee by the agencies participating, in the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CCOFI). The year 1957 was unusual compared with the last several years. The question seems to be whether 1957 is unusual or perhaps the only "normal" year in the past 10. Oceanographic and biological data are presented and discussed.

BACKGROUND

By now it is common knowledge that climatically 1957 has been an extraordinary year. This condition seems to have been Pacific-wide: Hawaii had its first recorded hurricane; the Peruvian coast was afflicted with the fish-killing El Nino; the ice went out at Pt. Barrow at the earliest time in history; on the western edge of the Pacific, the tropical rainy season lasted almost six weeks beyond its usual term.

This widespread variation in the weather has manifested itself dramatically on a local scale. At La Jolla, for example, the temperature of the sea surface reached the highest averages during July, August, and September 1957 it had achieved in 26 years. Southern California has had one of its rainiest autumns in several years. By mid-December, for example, the weather station at Lindbergh Field, San Diego, had recorded 3.57 inches, against a normal (the mean from 1920 to 1950) to that date of 2.48 inches. Throughout the summer reports came in of the appearance in quantity of fishes that in recent years had been caught only as stragglers: by the end of September, the party

Fig. 1 Temperature and wind anomalies at shore stations, 1957 compared to the 1949-56 means. Wind anomalies show variations in the northerly component of the geostrophic winds (computed from pressure charts). A negative anomaly means that the northerly component was weakened. Positive temperature anomalies indicate

warmer water.

boats had landed 2,805 dolphinfish against a previous high of 15 in 1947. 1/California Academy of Sciences; California Department of Fish and Game; Stanford University, Hopkins Marine Station; U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, South Pacific Fishery Investigations, University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

To the agencies conducting research under the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations, the year 1957 presents both an opportunity and a challenge. In previous years, large amounts of data were collected on the ocean and the fisheries, so that it has been possible to describe in considerable detail what has happened to oceanographic conditions since 1949. This material will now offer an invaluable basis of comparison with a year which differs strikingly from those immediately preceding but which may have been similar to others in the past for which not so large an amount of data exists. Thus, 1957 may offer an opportunity to explain both the immediate past and perhaps throw further light on the years of the thriving sardine fishery.

Some of the oceanographic data for 1957 are still being processed, but results already available for publication are striking. (Processing of the remaining 1957 data has been given priority over other processing.) Shore temperatures (which have proven to be useful clues to conditions offshore) have been higher than at any time throughout the 1949-56 period. The winds in 1957 had less of a northerly component than at any time during this period.

Sea surface temperatures for the entire CCOFI area are available for 1957 and these tell virtually the same story when compared with those for the period 1949 to 1954: warmer water, as much as 3 degrees Centigrade, prevailed over most of the area from January through October.

Interestingly enough, these higher temperatures do not necessarily mean that a wave of southern water swept northward. The California Current continued to flow southward, although perhaps with reduced transport. Most probably the warm water came from offshore, from the west or northwest. At most, only a small part of the increase in temperature was caused by the sun's heating in the CCOFI region. One of the most striking features of the year, preliminary analysis shows, is that the warming extended to great depths, a quarter of a mile or so. This warm water had higher salinities than usual.

The energy contained in 560 billion barrels of fuel oil would be required to produce the observed heating and change in salt content in the 200,000 square miles of the California coastal region. This is about half the total estimated oil reserves on earth.

About four times more solar heat than the area actually received would be needed to explain a change by this amount over average conditions.

Sardine spawning during 1957 was also unique. On the usual offshore grounds, spawning was limited and discontinuous. Most of the spawning took place in a coastal band from Punta Baja to San Pedro. For the first time in several years, some sardine spawning occurred north of Pt. Conception, reaching at least as far as Monterey Bay.

The 1957-class of sardines soon made itself evident in the live-bait fishery. Preliminary figures indicate these "firecrackers" will account for at least 6.0 percent of the live-bait catch, as against 0.3 percent in the best previous year.

Survival of the 1957-class of sardine off southern California has undoubtedly been better than in recent years. It is possible that the 1957-class will prove to be large. Judgment should be reserved, however, since these juveniles may have been overavailable during the year because of their inshore origin, and been oversampled.

The plankton collections so far examined reveal no striking changes from previous years, a fact of importance so far as the South Pacific Fishery Investigations are concerned, implying as it does that the distribution of these creatures may not be determined by surface temperatures.

The plankton collections do point toward a successful 1957-class of jack mackerel. An unusual abundance of larger jack mackerel larvae appeared in the collections.

So far as the fisheries are concerned, the most startling information for 1957 comes from the sport fishery. The year will unquestionably be the best for southern California anglers since party-boat records were re-established in 1947. Yellowtail have been caught off all southern California sport-fishing ports and in large

Fig. 2 Differences between sea surface temperatures in 1957 and in earlier period. Upper left, January 1957 compared with 1949-55 average. Upper right, April 1957 compared with 1949-54 average. Lower left, July 1957 compared with 1949-54 average. Lower right, October 1957 compared with 1949-54 average. Differences are expressed in degrees Centigrade. Shading indicates warming.