their fishing efforts 'becuase of a poo^ raarketo Trawlers^ as a rule, 

 have been curtailed as to the araount of fish they can land by market 

 limitations. The existing trawl fleet appears capable of supplying 

 present demand for trawl fish on the Pacific coast o 



Of the tuna vessels, seiners a.T2 most suitable for conversion to 

 trawling. Most of these vessels a.i"e based at San Pedro « The General 

 Manager of the Fishermen's Cooperative Association of San Pedro >riiich 

 represents the majoidty of these vessels, is of the opinion that trawl- 

 ing offers no promise for these vesse?iSo He reported that a few of the 

 vessels have tried trawling with medi-ccre results » In his opinion, 

 these vessels need something new to fish for in place of the scarce 

 California sardines (numerous CalJLfornia seine boats divide their year 

 between the tuna and the sardine fisheries as has been previously indi- 

 cated) = 



Possibility of Engaging In Th e Al aska Salmon Freezer-Ship Industry 

 EXPERIENCE AND FUTUHE. POSSIBILITiCES 



In recent years freezer-ships )\&ve operated in ever-increasing 

 numbers in the Bristol Bay Area of Al.askao These ships carry smaller 

 boats (gill netters) which are used as catcher boats » The gill netters 

 deliver their salmon catches to the freezer-ships , where they are 

 frozen whole. Eventually the freezer-ships return to one of several 

 Puget Sound ports and discharge their cargo of frozen salmon. The fi^zen 

 salmon are then canned. Red salmon is the variety most sought by the 

 freezer-ships. However, in 1952 some of the vessels also took pink and 

 chum salmon. Whether the freezing of pink and chum salmon will prove to 

 be feasible and profitable is as y^^t yj-jkrjown. The freezer-ship indus- 

 try has been concentrated mainly in the Bristol Bay Region of Alaska, 

 the Territory's chief source of red salmon. Freezer-ship growth in 

 Bristol Bay is indicated in Table 69 o 



221 



