136 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



either wholly or partially. In some cases, tarred seines are being 

 replaced witli tanned webbing in ])laee of tarred webbing, and in some 

 instances a wliole net has l)een snbstituted for the tan-ed net wlien the 

 latter has worn ont. Althongh it is evident at this time that the 

 tanned purse seine is gaining favor, its universal adoption in succeed- 

 ing seasons will depend njion facilities for taiiirmg aiid drying these 

 large nets. Also, whether all crews believe that the added life and 

 speeding up of hauling operations offsets the periodic treatment that 

 must be given a tanned net. The tanning of a purse seine is simplified 

 by removing the bulky cork line and by splitting a large net into two 

 sections. 



Near the end of the 1933-34 season, the crew of the purse seine 

 boat Ranger of Monterey had two large wooden tanks constructed 

 aboard a floating barge to facilitate treatment of tanned ])urse seines 

 during future seasons. The original purpose in building this tank was 

 to treat nets with a minimum amount of trouble after the crew had 

 encountered anchovies instead of sardines. A school of anchovies makes 

 the same characteristic luminescence at night that a school of sardines 

 does. The capture of anchovies in sardine nets is annoying because the 

 anchovies often times gill in large numbers necessitating hand-picking, 

 and also it is claimed that the slime from this fish has a detrimental 

 effect upon the net unless it is thoroughly cleansed at the time. 



COST OF WEBBING GREATLY INCREASED 



Lasting qualities in a net have become a very imi)ortant factor 

 this season since the price of webbing has increased more than two and 

 one-half times over that for last season. American webbing (9-thread) 

 has increased from 40^ a pound at the beginning of last season to $1.07 

 a pound at the beginning of this season. Japanese webbing has 

 increased a corresponding amount and sells for about 85^ to 90^ this 

 season. Most of the crews have found that it is cheaper in the end to 

 buy American rather than Japanese webbing because of the longer 

 lasting quality of the American-made product. There is also less knot 

 slippage in the American webbing. 



One or two of the crews have been experimenting Avith English 

 and Dutch webbing but do not know of their respective lasting qualities 

 at this time. 



HOLD CAPACITIES OF SOME PURSE SEINE BOATS INCREASED 



During the past two seasons, a few of the purse seine boats have 

 increased their hold capacities for carrying sardines by rearrangement 

 of fuel tanks or forAvard cross-wall below deck. For example, the hold 

 capacity of the Neiv Admiral was increased from 75 to 85 tons. Pal 

 from 65 to 83 tons, Portola No. 1 (formerly Agnes 8.) from 75 to 80 

 tons, Ohio No. 3 from 55 to 68 tons. 



NETTING OPERATIONS OF PURSE SEINE BOATS SPEEDED UP 



The universal adojition by purse seine boat crews of labor and 

 time saving devices, such as the power roller on the turntable, the long 

 bag dip nets for unloading from net into hold, submarine light-scare, 

 and now the gaining popularity of tanned purse seines, and in general 



