One of the principal advantages of the diesel over the steam engine is 

 an important economy in size and in personnel with the riddance of the boil- 

 er and condensers which are large and exact constant vigilance. It also as- 

 sures, with equal power, a very superior radius of action, an advantage par- 

 ticularly important for trawlers in the great fishery, to which its adoption 

 permitted carrying a full supply of fuel sufficient for the whole season and 

 avoided thus the refueling, often very onerous, in foreign ports. 



The steam vessel still has, to the present, its resolute partisans among 

 the outfitters for the great fishery. Dependable, easily run and maintained, 

 avoiding all complicated mechanisms between itself and the propeller, it is, 

 besides, from the point of view of realizable perfection, far from having said 

 the last word. Besides, aboard the steam trawler, the winch, an essential 

 instrument in the trawl fishery, is, as well as auxiliary equipment, fed di- 

 rectly and simply by the boiler, its function requiring aboard motor vessels, 

 a completely independent installation, generally electric, inspiring less con- 

 fidence, especially from the point of view of reliability, among the outfitters 

 and captains. 



Steam or motor, the modern trawlers of the great fishery attain a net 

 tonnage of 1300 tons, with a gross tonnage of 1600, while the largest three- 

 masted vessels equipped for the line trawl fishery were 430 net tons or 600 

 gross tons. These trawlers, under the French flag, are the largest in the 

 world. They are the solution to the catching- transporting problem, perhaps 

 not the best from the point of view of yield of the fishery compared to the ef- 

 fort expended, but which has required the outfitters for the great fishery, 

 because of the great distances and the cost of putting into port for landing and 

 unloading, to conceive a vessel not only from the point of view of the fishery 

 proper but equally in view of transporting the total catch of cod. 



Exploitation with these trawlers is extremely demanding. To obtain a 

 profitable yield, it is indispensable, first to reduce to a minimum all loss of 

 fishing time and to obtain the best possible yield, then to get from the fish, 

 on the spot of capture, everything that can be used. 



Thus the great modern trawler fishery is based on scientific organiza- 

 tion and on rational utilization of its products. In addition to radio which 

 permits him to stay in constant communication with his outfitter, the cap- 

 tain has at his disposal the most modern instruments of navigation, such as 

 radio direction finders and continuous sonic or ultrasonic depth finders. 



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