THE PRESENT STATUTS AND THE PROSPECTS OF CEPHALOPOD RESOURCES IN THE WEST PACIFIC

An attempt is made to generalize the present status of exploitation of natural resource of cephalopods in the West Pacific. This paper presents: (1) characteristics of the present exploitation, (2) an account of the biology of the economically important species,(3) resource structure and fluctuation of the catches, (4) potential stock biomass and prospects.According to the data of prey-predator relationship, 5,500,000—7,500,000 tons of potential stock biomass of cephalopods in the West Pacific were estimated.