these cruises, fishing was extended westward 

 to the Keweenaw Peninsula. In 1965two cruises 

 were made: (1) from mid-May through mid- 

 June and (2) fronn early September through 

 early October. In 1965 operations were ex- 

 tended westward to Duluth. 



VESSEL, GEAR, AND METHODS 



The R/V Kaho (fig. 1), of West Coast purse 

 seiner design, was built in 1961 and is of welded 

 steel and riveted aluminum construction. The 

 overall lenght is 64.75 feet; beam, 17.75 feet; 

 and loaded draft, 8,0 feet. Propulsion is by two 

 1 50-horsepower diesel engines that provide a 

 cruising speed of 9.3 knots. It has accommoda- 

 tions for six men. Storage space for fuel, water, 

 and galley supplies enables the vessel to 

 operate continuously for about 14 days. 



The fishing equipment is typical of a small 

 stern trawler. Deck gear, besides the usual 

 boom-mast arragement, includes a hydraulic 

 net reel and two hydraulic winches each with 



a capacity for 2,500 feet of 3/8-inch diameter 

 cable. A metal roller, 18 inches in diameter 

 and 8.25 feet long, is installed in the stern 

 bulwark to facilitate net handling and retrieval. 

 As on nnost vessels of this design, trawl nets 

 are set and towed from the stern. The net and 

 catch are retrieved directly over the stern 

 roller (fig. 2). Electronic equipment includes 

 radar, high-resolution echo sounder with fish- 

 discriminating features (fig. 3), radio-tele- 

 phone, intercommunications systenn, and auto- 

 matic magnetic -electronic pilot and helm unit. 



Three types of trawls were used. All but 14 

 of the 340 trawl drags were made with a 52- 

 foot (headrope) Gulf of Mexico type fish trawl 

 (Gordon and Brouillard, 1960); 2 drags were 

 made with a 40-foot midwater trawl; and the 

 remaining 12, with a 72-foot (headrope) two- 

 seam wing trawl. All nets had a 1 -inch mesh 

 (stretch measure) cotton liner in the cod end 

 to catch young fish and small species. 



Most drags were one -half hour long, although 

 eight were extended to 1 hour to determine the 

 size of catches under possible commercial 



Figure 1.— The research vessel Kaho of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Branch of Exploratory Fishing and Gear 



Research. 



