SALMON AND SALMON FISHERIES OF SWIFTSURE BANK 
731 
In even-numbered years, when the pink salmon did not appear, the departure 
of the larger vessels to other fisheries was especially common, and when the decreas- 
ing abundance of sockeye rendered summer fishing even less profitable many smaller 
vessels followed suit. 
Other factors have further intensified the annual change in the number of vessels. 
Prior to 1921, when regulations in waters of the State of Washington were undertaken 
by the State Fisheries Board, a considerable fishery for immature coho salmon was 
carried on in lower Puget Sound, especially off the southern end of Whidbey Island, 
in Possession Sound, and in Port Susan (see fig. 3). This fishery was pursued by a 
number of very small boats which fished during April and May of each year. When the 
regular seining season began, in June or July, most of these small boats transferred 
their licenses to larger vessels and engaged in gill netting during the remainder of the 
season. Closure to early fishing of a large part of these waters discouraged seining 
by the smaller boats. 
These various factors have caused considerable fluctuations in the size of the 
Puget Sound seine fleets, but have not obscured the striking difference in the number 
of seiners operating in the summer fleets of alternate years, or the distinct difference 
between the total fleets of odd and even years. 
Size of Summer and Fall Fleets on Puget Sound 
During the period from 1909-15, the number of seine licenses issued increased 
from 95 to 308 (see table 11). However, the dates on which fishing licenses were 
issued are available for only a few of those years, and the number of vessels fishing 
during different parts of the seasons cannot be determined for this early period. 
Beginning with 1916, the vessels fishing on Puget Sound in each year have been 
classified as summer or fall seiners; all those obtaining early licenses were tabulated 
as the summer fleet, and all vessels fishing after September 6 as the fall fleet. In most 
years there was a period of from one to four weeks preceding this date during which 
no licenses were obtained. A more detailed discussion of the time of change from 
summer to fall fishing will be presented later under a discussion of the fishing seasons 
of the fleets. The number of vessels in the summer fleets of each year from 1916-34 
are presented as column totals in the bottom line of table 12; those of the fall fleet 
of each year are similarly presented in table 13. 
Table 12. — Summer purse-seine fleets on Puget Sound, 1916-34 
Registered net tonnage 1 
1916 
1917 
1918 
1919 
1920 
1921 
1922 
1923 
1924 
1925 
1926 
1927 
1928 
1929 
1930 
1931 
1932 
1933 
1934 
Below 5 
4 
30 
23 
21 
25 
2 
1 
2 
3 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
5-9 
32 
40 
11 
14 
5 
7 
2 
5 
3 
5 
3 
3 
3 
6 
5 
7 
3 
5 
5 
10-14 
78 
103 
37 
46 
16 
45 
12 
24 
9 
27 
13 
22 
9 
20 
13 
22 
17 
23 
22 
15-19 
81 
121 
52 
56 
36 
69 
15 
30 
13 
41 
19 
43 
34 
46 
35 
55 
42 
56 
54 
20-24 
44 
82 
43 
53 
30 
51 
13 
24 
6 
21 
13 
22 
20 
39 
35 
45 
41 
42 
43 
25-29 
3 
25 
16 
18 
31 
47 
8 
22 
11 
24 
12 
26 
21 
41 
37 
48 
42 
46 
41 
30-34 
I 
23 
9 
20 
10 
21 
6 
14 
8 
11 
5 
19 
17 
24 
21 
40 
33 
32 
34 
35-39 
1 
1 
3 
1 
1 
1 
2 
1 
1 
1 
2 
1 
6 
2 
20 
15 
16 
14 
40-44 
1 
2 
2 
5 
4 
fi 
4 
45-49 
1 
1 
3 
4 
1 
2 
1 
Total 
243 
425 
192 
231 
154 
243 
58 
121 
51 
133 
66 
138 
106 
194 
154 
247 
199 
228 
219 
1 Vessels of 5 net tons and larger from official registers; boats below 5 net tons from State license applications. 
