baito Because of the high cost of vessels and the large trip 

 expenses, a bait vessel cannot reply on ar^rthing but a successful 

 baito 



There appears to be litt?.e immediate prospect of materially 

 reducing bait costs or over-sll costs of fishing in the tuna 

 Indus tr^'o Although the outlook was bleak in this respect, it was 

 thought that the tuna boat operators financial and economic position 

 might still be buttressed by looking for alternative sources of 

 income,, Such things as use of tuna craft in other fisheries, 

 transport trade,, and mcthership operation together vdth changing 

 tuna fishing activity fran present operating ports were thought of. 

 These possibilities were considered and they are discussed in the 

 next two sections, 



TWJA FLEET PJ^RTICrr'ATION IN OTHER FISHERIES, 



— ^-^-TBT^Ti ^p^iyrTMrE" ■ 



To gauge the amount of reduction in fishing effort hy the 

 major segment of the domestic fleet, the fishing records of 2$ 

 typical tuna bait vessels j each of more than 2 00-ton carrying 

 capacity, ■W'-5re analyzed for thcj ^^^ars 1950 and 1951- The analysis 

 reveals thatj, compared witii 19^0, fishing activity for these vessels 

 decreased in 19^1 as follows.^ niunber of trips per year, 30 percent; 

 days at sea, 33 percent^ and t:ins of tuna caught, 26 percent^ This 

 information is shown in t«ble 67o The decline in fishing activity, 

 with the attendant lower earnings for the vessels, made alternate 

 employment fcr these vessels a subject of interests 



Possibility of Engaging in tJie Pacific Coast Trawl Fishery 



Table 68 supplies comparative data for the Pacific coast tuna 

 fishery and the Pacific ccast trawl fishery,, This comparison indi- 

 cates that the trawl fishery amounts to only 23 percent of the tuna 

 fishery in terms of weight of fish landed, and to only 7 percent in 

 terras of value of landings. Trawl fish are worth less than one- third 

 as iivach per pcond as tuna, xhese comparisons indicate that the trawl 

 fishery lacks the necessary potential to serve as an outlet for idle 

 tuna vessels o 



Moreover, Pacific coast trawlers are themselves confronted with 

 marketing problems. They have been required to endure restrictions in 



.225 



