That size alone does not determine 

 performance , hov;ever, can be seen from a 

 comparison of the average landings and ac- 

 tivities of the best and worst of both 

 trawler classes, (table V-U) . The top six 

 vessels of the 200 gross-ton class had av- 

 erage landings of 3.9, 3.7, and 3.3 million 

 pounds in the years 1956, 19?7, and 1958, 

 respectively. The bottom six, on the other 

 hand, had average landings of 2.5, 2.2, and 

 1.9 million pounds in these years. Simi- 

 larly, in each of the three years, the top 

 six trawlers averaged 5 more trips per year 

 than the bottom six. Yet these two groups 

 are of practically the same tonnage . The 

 same held true for the best and worst of 

 the 150-199 gross-ton travflers. Yet these, 

 too, were of the same tonnage. Further- 

 more, individual vessels of the 150-199 

 gross-ton class do out-perform the larger 

 vessels in certain instances, and within 

 the two vessel classes there are substan- 

 tial variations in vessel landings, re- 

 ceipts, and activity, (table V-5). 



Thus size, although an important con- 

 sideration in the analysis of the Boston 

 trawler fleet, should not be overeirjihasized, 

 and must be viewed in relation to other 

 factors . 



2. Trip Activity As A Factor 



The disparity in trip activity between 

 the best and worst of the trawler clsisses 

 points up a further source of the wide 

 variation in vessel performance. It has 

 been held that vessel profitability de- 

 pends to a large degree on trip activity: 



"....Profitability of individual ves- 

 sels depends to a large extent on (the 

 trawlers' ) ability to spend a large number 

 of days at sea." 95/ However, with refer- 

 ence to the best and worst of the 200 gross- 

 ton trawler class, for the worst trawlers 

 to appix)ach or equal the landings of the 

 best vessels, their landings would have to 

 be in excess of 200,000 pounds per trip 

 for the added six trips. This would entail 

 a most substantial improvement over their 



average per trip landings of 100,000, 

 85,000, and 76,000 pounds in the years 1956, 

 1957, and 1958, respectively. 



Vessel size and trip activity are, 

 then, two factors which influence vessel 

 receipts and landings. Hovjever, the con- 

 sistent year to year performance of indi- 

 vidual vessels, and the substantial dif- 

 ferences in per trip landings of the best 

 and worst of the large trawlers, illus- 

 trate the importance of a third factor: 

 the human element. 



3. Managerial Skill As A Factor 



That the capabilities of a captain 

 are a major factor influencing the per- 

 formance of individual vessels, has long 

 been recognized by those in the Boston 

 trawler fleet and by fishery students the 

 world over. One of the latter notes that 

 "A good skipper with an old-fashioned out- 

 fit may be fairly successful, but a bad 

 skipper with a good outfit will have little 

 results 5 even if a good skipper has a bad 

 outfit he will see his way to improve 

 it." 96/ He also notes that "the choice of 

 the skipper - when the vessel is a given 



factor - is the most decisive choice 



with a view to making the fishing unit 

 pay." 97/ 



Although the importance of the captain 

 as a factor influencing the performance of 

 a given fishing vessel is well accepted, 

 some effort was directed toward obtaining 

 a quantitative illustration of his influ- 

 ence. To do this, the perfonnances of two 

 vessels were compared for the years 1956 

 and 1958 in terns of receipts per day 

 absent from port, crew earnings per day 

 absent from port, and vessel share per day 

 absent from port. 



The two vessels are sister-ships. They 

 are under the same management, have the 

 sane gross tonnage and horsepower, and are 

 similar in all essential respects. Each 

 vessel was skippered by the same individual 

 in both years, and information was included 



95/ Miemyk, W. K., and Sumner Rosen. The Economics of Freezing Fish At Sea , North- 

 east'ern University, 1957, unpublished report prepared for United States Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, 1956. p. 30. This report further states that "....earnings (do) not depend pri- 

 marily on total or average catchesj the significant factor is total number of trips." p. 32. 



96/ Bottomanne, op. cit., p. 79. 



W/ Ibid., p. 97. 



60 



