POLE AND LINE TUNA FISHING VESSEL

[aukepalmhof]

The Solomon Island issued a set of stamps in 1991 for the Phila Nippon 1991exhibition. Two stamps shows us pole and line tuna fishing vessels while the other two shows us a yellow fin tuna and the arabushi processing system (dried bonito).
The two tuna fishing vessels have not been identified, but most probably both were built in Japan and used by the Soltai Company in the Solomon waters.

Pole-and-line fishing, which was developed in several separate regions of the world, involves use of a hook and line attached to the end of a pole, improving both leverage and reach. This general method of fishing has been used for centuries in the South Pacific, Japan, and the Maldives. However, what could be called modern pole and line fishing developed during the early twentieth century. At that time the Japanese developed larger pole-and-line vessels capable of travelling to any ocean where tuna occurred in fishable quantities. The vessels, which carry live bait in tanks of circulating seawater, can freeze their catches and stay at sea for three or four months. In some cases, when bait from cooler waters is carried into tropical areas in pursuit of tuna, the water in the bait tank is refrigerated in order to maintain a temperature similar to that of the water where the bait was captured thereby increasing the survival of the baitfish.
The greatest growth in pole-and-line fishing occurred in Southern California in response to a growing demand for tuna following the introduction of tuna canning in the early Twentieth century. It was in this fishery that the “tuna clipper,” originated. These pole-and-line vessels were capable of packing up to 600 tonnes of frozen tuna, carrying large quantities of live bait, and staying at sea for many months. Pole-and-line fishing is a two-mode type of fishing. Live bait must first be caught before the tuna, which are most often skipjack and yellowfin, can be captured. The live bait was used to attract the tuna to the vessel where they where caught by pole-and-line gear. If the tuna were feeding well, and the “chummer” could keep the fish along side the vessel, several tonnes could be captured in a short time. Though pole-and-line fishing was at one time the major type of tuna fishing in terms of catch, because of improvements in purse-seine gear and methods it has diminished in importance.
In terms of tonnage of tuna captured, pole-and-line fishing, like longlining, captures about 14% of the world catch.
More info is given on: http://apjjf.org/-Kate-Barclay/2508/article.html

Solomon Island 1991 30c and 80c sg 709/10, scott704/05.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4499e/y4499e07.htm