Tuna research ship
ON April 2, 1980, The Fiji Times reported that a research ship studying skipjack tuna had arrived in the country,
The South Pacific Commission (SPC) ship, Hatsutori Maru No. 5 was involved in a study of skipjack tuna in 19 countries and territories in the central and western Pacific.
The scientists on board were learning the migration pattern of skipjack by studying where the tagged tuna were captured.
Among the crew of the research ship were 14 young Fijian fishermen.
The scientists working on the ship said that much of the success of the skipjack study was because of the fishing skills of the crew leaders, Eroni Marawa, Ravaele Tikovakaca and Kitione Koroi, as well as the rest of the crew.
About 4000 of the tuna which had been tagged were recaptured in various countries.
Fishermen who captured a fish that had been tagged were encouraged by a reward of a T-shirt to return the tag to the South Pacific Commission.
This was the second visit of the research ship to Fiji , the first one having been made from
January to April 1978.
At that time more than 9000 skipjack and yellowfin were tagged and released in Fiji waters.
Since then about 950 of these fish were recaptured in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, Tahiti and New Zealand.
Robert Gillett, a research scientist with SPC, said the ship would spend a month studying tuna in the waters in Fiji.
“During this time, half the tuna captured will be tagged once and the other half will have two tags.
“Fiji fishermen who captured a tuna with two tags will receive a double reward for both tags, together with length of the fish, date of capture, place of capture and returned.
“Tags should be returned to the Fisheries Division in Lami or the South Pacific Commission in Noumea.
“After completion of the Fiji survey, the ship will go to Wallis Island, the Solomon Islands, Palau, the Philippines and to Japan,” Mr Gillett said.