vessels on the Pacific coast that cam be equipped with trolling lines, a 

 relatively inexpensive type of gesu^o The num'b'?r of vcsssels entering the 

 alhacore fish'jry each year varies considerably, depending en the size of 

 the albacore run and its dispi5rsion along tha coast. The availability of 

 other fish, partictuarly salicon, also influences the size of the ti'oll 

 fleet. If fishing for salmon or other species, is profitable, many vessels 

 will remain in these fisheries instead of outfitting for albacore. 



Purse Seln.ers 



Purse seine vessels are a special type of fishing craft having a wide 

 stern equipped with a turn-table, capable of handling a purse seine weigh- 

 ing many tons. In the early days of the tuna fishery, there were no seiners 

 that fished solely for tuna. Instead, pilchard, salmon, and herring seiners 

 outfitted for tuna seining during the off-season for other species. In 

 recent years, hov/ever, a number of large seinsrs operate for t\ina on a year- 

 round basis. These aire long- rang® craft v;hich fish almost exclusively for 

 yellowfin and skipjack tuna in the same areas aind at the same time that the 

 ttma clippers or live-bait boats are taking these species. The present flee"!; 

 of year-round seiners numbers about 15 vessels ranging in size from about 90 

 to 120 feet in length. In addition to these craft, there is a fleet of about 

 100 part-time tuna seiners. These craft are smaller than the year-round 

 vessels and, therefore, confine their tuna fishing to the waters off the coasts 

 of Mexico and Costa Rica. These craft account for the major portion of the 

 United States catch of bluefin, bonito, and yellowtail. There is an additional 

 fleet of local purse seinors, about 50 in number, which fishes for tuna in 

 aauthern California waters. These craft fish for pilchards and mackeral during 

 the seasons for these fish and take tiina at other times of the year. Some of 

 the seiners are equipped with refrigeration equipment which permits the catch 

 to be frozen and stored dry at below freezirig temper atui.'es. The remainder of 

 the fleet carries crushed ice in which the catch is preserved. 



Tuna clippers, or bait boats, art the backbone of tlm tuna fleet. These 

 are large craft ranging from 6S to 150 feet in length and having a carryir.g 

 capacity of from '^'O to 600 tons. The average carrying capacity of the present 

 fleet of about 190 vessels is 230 tons. These craft ara distinctive and 

 picturesque," with a raking stem and raised deck forward, extending two-thirds 

 the length of the hull to the large bait tanks aft. The majority have the 

 hold divided into water-tight compartments in which bait can be carried on the 

 outwejrd voyage and frozen tuna on the ret\.u-n ti'ip. Tne clippers are equipped 

 to freeze their catches in brina and stors them dry at below freezing temperatures, 



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