480 tr. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



Purse seining for salmon in Piiget Sound and waters north of same 

 is one of the most important methods in use in the fisheries. In the 

 type of vessel used in this fishery there has probably been greater 

 improvement than in any other branch of the fisheries of the coast. 

 In the early daA's row scows were in use, but now vessels with power 

 are used. 



In 1903 the first gasoline-powered purse seine boat appeared on the 

 Pacific coast salmon fishing grounds in Puget Sound. The vessel was 

 named the Pioneer and she was equipped with a 5-horsepower engine. 

 The first season she easily demonstrated her vast superiority over 

 the other purse seiners in the quickness with which she could reach 

 a school of fish after it was sighted and in surrounding it with her 

 seine. The next year there were a few more built or equipped, and 

 the number has steadily increased until at the i)resent time practi- 

 cally all except a few in southeast Alaska arc equipped with motor 

 engines. 



The first power seine boats were only about 30 feet in length and 

 had small power. As they were few in numbers, there was virtually 

 no competition, and high power and speed were not a necessity. As 

 the boats increased in numbers, however, competition became keener, 

 and the first types of boats with their small power were quickly 

 thrown into the shade by the newer types, which averaged between 

 45 and 55 feet in length, with 45 to 75 horsepower engines. 



When motive power was introduced in the vessels, it was natural 

 that the fishermen should soon introduce winches for the purpose 

 of hauling m. the nets, as the whole work could then be done by the 

 one engine. 



The purse seine vessels are built with rounded sterns. On an 

 elevated section of the stern is set a movable platform on a pivot. 

 The after end of this platform has a long roller. The purse seine 

 is stowed on this platform, the head rope with corks on one side and 

 the foot line on the other, so that there will be no tangling when the 

 seine is paid out. 



When the lookout sights a school of fish the seiner is run down close 

 to it and a rowboat launched. One man takes his place in this with 

 the rope from one end of the seine and acts as a pivot, while the seiner 

 circles around the school, the crew paying out the seine as she moves 

 along. When it is all out, the vessel runs alongside the rowboat and 

 takes aboard the other rope. Attaching this and the rope from the 

 other end to the power winch, the circle around the fish is rapidly 

 narrowed, and the slack of the seine as it comes in is stowed back on 

 the platform. Around the bottom of the seine and through gal- 

 vanized-iron rings about 5 inches in diameter runs the purse line. As 

 this is hauled into the boat, the open space at the bottom is rapidly 

 closed up just as a handbag would be through the drawing together of 

 the pursing string at the top. During this operation the nonpower 

 purse seiners have a man standing alongside the rail who throws a pole 

 into the center in order to drive the fish away from the open section. 

 He is so skillful in this work that almost invariably the pole comes back 

 to his hand as the pressure of the waters forces it up again. When 

 the bottom has been pursed up the fishermen hauling b.y hand can 

 move more leisurely, but with the power winches in use the hauling 

 in of the net is a comparatively easy matter, and the pole thrower is 

 dispensed with. 



