November 1966 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



11 



River south to the California border, which 

 included a large proportion of the Columbia 

 River stocks, were over 5 million pounds by 

 late September. These landings were some- 

 what lower than last year's but better than 

 any other year since 1935. 



The estimated sport catch of coho at the 

 river's mouth has been second only to the 

 1965 record of 247,000 fish, and much great- 

 er than the ten-year average of 90,000. 



The gill -net landings of coho probably ex- 

 ceeded 1.5 million pounds the first fishing 

 week of September. The season's total may 

 exceed 1964's 1.9 million pounds --the best 

 since 1938. 



Thirteen hatcheries on the lower Columbia 

 River operated by state and Federal fishery 

 agencies propagated coho. It was too early 

 to expect coho in the hatchery ponds, but there 

 should be no problem in reaching coho egg- 

 taking goals for all hatcheries. 



The Bonneville count was 62,000, with 

 1,000 a day still going over. Although most 

 of these fish are destined for hatcheries in 

 the Bonneville pool area, many will spawn in 

 upper river tributaries in Idaho, Oregon, and 

 Washington. With the significant restocking 

 and transplanting efforts in the upper water- 

 shed by Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Fed- 

 eral agencies, these record counts at Bonne- 

 ville may be only the beginning. 



This is the third consecutive year of out- 

 standing coho gill -net catches from the Co- 

 lumbia River stocks. Aiding nature, man 

 plays increasing role in this fish explosion. 

 Major developments in fish culture techni- 

 ques, particularly the development of the 



Oregon pellet by the Oregon State University 

 Seafoods lab and the Fish Commission as the 

 main diet for this species, have contributed 

 immeasurably. About 6 million pounds will 

 be fed into the Columbia River system in 

 1966. Successful rearing has resulted in in- 

 creased returns. It has contributed to the 

 sport and commercial fisheries in Oregon, 

 both in ocean and river. Excellent returns 

 are also expected to continue this year at 

 other Oregon Fish Commission hatcheries 

 on the coastal rivers of Alsea, Nehalem, 

 Siletz, and Trask. 



Commonwealth of Puerto Rico 



SHRIMP TRAWLERS MAY ALSO 

 HAVE MARKETS FOR FISH 



When the 84 -foot, steel freezer shrimp 

 trawler Amazon recently landed in Puerto 

 Rico with 21,000 pounds of shrimp and 6,000 

 pounds of fish, it may have shown the poten- 

 tial of Puerto Rico and adjacent islands as 

 markets for incidental catches of fish by 

 shrimp trawlers. Of the catch landed, croak- 

 er and sea trout made up 80 percent, and 25 

 other species comprised the remainder. 



The Amazon was launched in March and 

 its owner said then that it would operate off 

 the northeast coast of South America for 

 shrimp. But it has freezing capacity, and so 

 it can utilize finfish taken along with the 

 shrimp. This is unusual in a field where the 

 conventional shrimp trawlers discard the fish.. 



FOAM DEVELOPED TO RAISE SUNKEN SHIPS 



Sunken ships as large as destroyers can be raised by inject- 

 ing foam into them. A 500-ton barge was raised from 80 feet of 

 water as part of a study for th6 U. S. Navy's Bureau of Ships by a 

 research corporation which developed the system. 



Divers first effect repairs to keep the foam from escaping and 

 then the foam is injected. A limit of 37 5 feet for depth was given. 



The method costs about 60 percent of that for usual salvage 

 methods. (Undersea Technology ) 



