Table 69 »- TAXE OF SALMON BY FREEZER-SHIPS IN 

 BRISTOL BAY, ALASKA 



1/ These vessels fished 129 gill-net boats with an aggregate of 19,350 

 fathoms of gill nets. 



Freezer- ships have increased rather rapidly i-n nu/rber in recent years, 



and in 1952 they accoionted for approximately I4 percent af the salmon 



tak&Ti in Bristol Bay« They also accounted for an. unlcnovm, but small, por- 

 tion of the take from other areas of Alaska. 



Numerous economic factors make it impossible to forecast the future 

 of the freezer-ship industry. Some of these factors ai'e: cost of raw 

 salmon; cost of vessel operations including payro.ll; policies and cost of 

 production of competitive shore-based canneries j selling price of canned 

 salmon; and consumer acceptance of tne freezer-ship caxined- salmon product. 



The theoretical limitation upon freezer- ship ejq^ansion is the portion 

 of tne fish supply which is not as yet taken by the freezer- ships. In the 

 Bristol Bay Area 86 percent of the catch was taken by other methodso If 

 freezing proves successful with pink and chum salmon, tiie theoretical poten- 

 tial for freezer-ships would be much greater. iyt/ To take care of a great 

 voiujne of frozen salmon from Alaska, no doubt canning facilities in the 

 Puget Sound or other continental United States areas would require ex- 

 pansion, 



"2^ In 1951, the Alaska salmon take amounted to 276,588,312 pounds of 

 wliich 113,666,596 pounds were pink salmon. Other species of salmon were 

 taken as follows: Chum, 52o934,320 pounds; Coho, 36,279,648 pounds; 

 King, 15,790,840 pounds; Red, 57,916,908 pounds. 



