348 



ROBERT I. THIEME 

 in 1965 and I understand that reported landings in the 

 first 12 months were over six million pounds. 



^Ve have been surprised and well pleased 

 at our success. We have averaged about 40,000 pounds of 

 fish for each trip we have made. We take these fish to 

 Puget Sound By-products, Inc., where they are converted 

 into fish meal. 



"A lot of credit is due to the Federal 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, which did a lot of pre- 

 liminary work in establishing the existence of this type 

 of fishery in these waters. It appears to me that the 

 numbers of fish available for mid water trawls will sustain 

 a high level of catches indefinitely." 



A similar statement from his brother Frank, 

 who operates the trawler Wisconsin. 



Excerpts from a publication, the National 

 Fisherman, January 1967 issue. I just for a minute would 

 like to read one small part. 



"Between November 30, 1965, and April 6, 

 1966, the St. Michael"--which was the vessel originally 

 employed in this f ishery--"caught 2,564,000 pounds. The 

 mid trawl gear had an average catch rate of 17,000 pounds 

 per hour. The highest hourly catch rate was on trip No. 18, 



February 21, when the vessel took 104,000 pounds in three 



