Size trends are to: 
—Larger vessels optimized for a particular mission. 
—Crew quarters trends are to added space and 
comfort, including improved sanitation and mess 
facilities. 
—Fuel capacity trends are to larger tanks to permit 
longer trips and additional time at the fishing 
grounds. 
Fish hold trends are to: 
—Larger capacity due to better construction tech- 
niques, smaller engine room requirements, and 
larger vessel size. 
—Better insulation materials. 
—Sanitation improvements by use of metal pen 
boards, improved covering materials, and refrigera- 
tion. 
Safety trends are to: 
—Inflatable life rafts, stronger rigging, non-slip 
deck materials, safety guards, firefighting equip- 
ment, etc., particularly in new construction. 
—Features which reduce insurance rates and im- 
prove working conditions at sea. 
5. Fishing Gear and Operational Aids 
Current trends are toward: 
—More sophisticated electronic gear for navigation 
and fish finding installed aboard new and existing 
vessels. 
—More powerful deck gear to handle larger fishing 
gear being installed on new vessels and conver- 
sions. 
—Larger fishing gear being employed on vessels 
with higher engine capacities. 
—Larger fixed fishing gear (anchored in a single 
locality such as king crab pots). 
—Greater use of snythetics in floats, pots, traps, 
trawls, seines and ropes. 
—Greater use of hydraulic power throughout vessel 
for steering, deck winches, deck cranes, hoisting 
winches, etc. 
—Increased mechanization of existing operations 
for faster handling of lobster traps, king crab pots, 
and clam dredges. 
—Newly-designed nets and fishing techniques for 
faster and safer handling of fishing gear such as 
tuna purse seines, king crab pots, scallop dredges, 
and trawls. 
In summary, fishing gear has changed measur- 
ably in the past decade. The king crab fishery has 
been aided by new crab pot design. Synthetic 
webbing, having swept through the entire industry, 
has been of great importance. The power block 
and large synthetic purse seines have revolution- 
ized those fisheries using purse seines. The pound 
nets discussed earlier were enormously efficient 
devices, although their use is curtailed now by law. 
6. Federal Effort 
Exploratory fishing and gear research—closely 
related—provide the fishing industry with informa- 
tion concerning the location and extent of fish and 
shellfish resources and with knowledge of new and 
improved harvesting devices. These activities aid in 
meeting overall industry needs by: 
—Reducing effort spent in locating concentrations 
of commercially useful fish stocks. It has been 
estimated that fishermen now spend an average of 
50 per cent of time at sea locating fish, although 
this varies greatly among fisheries, and is consider- 
ably more in some. 
—Providing a broader base for expansion to alter- 
nate fishery resources, thus reducing idleness and 
instability within the fishing community and 
increasing the variety of fish products available to 
consumers. 
—Reducing harvesting costs, thus increasing the 
ability of domestic fishermen to compete with 
foreign imports and other domestically produced 
animal proteins. 
—Providing efficient techniques and vessels to 
harvest resources not possible with existing gear. 
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