734 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
for the period from 1927-34. These figures indicate that the numbers of vessels 
fishing there during these years were 64, 88, 122, 75, 163, 1 17, 104, and 142, respectively. 
CHANGES IN COMPOSITION OF THE FLEET 
The size-composition of the annual purse-seine fleets was essential to a determination 
of fishing intensity, for vessel size is an important aid in the calculation of vessel efficiency. 4 
The changes in size that have taken place during the history of the purse-seine 
fishery are partially indicated in figure 16, which shows the size distribution of vessels 
fishing on Puget Sound during the years 1911, 1917, 1925, and 1933. Of the entire fleet 
fishing during 1911, there 
1 — 
t’ 
1911 
Ui 
1 
1 
t J 
SIZE DISTRIBUTION 
PUGET SOUND 
SEINE FLEETS 
were only 6 vessels of 15 or 
more net tons. By 1917 ves- 
sels of this larger size consti- 
tuted the major portion of 
the fleet, although a consid- 
erable number of smaller 
vessels were still fishing. 
A number of vessels of 24 
or more net tons fished for 
the first time that year. 
By 1925 vessels of less 
than 9 net tons had become 
scarce and the remaining 
fleet showed almost a bi- 
modal size distribution, 
somewhat obscured by the 
presence of several vessels of 
22 net tons built in 1915, and 
several of 24 net tons built 
in 1917; there is a mode at 
about 16 net tons, and an- 
other some 12 tons greater. 
Three vessels of more than 
35 net tons fished in 1925. 
In 1933 the small vessels 
had become even less nu- 
merous, and the remainder 
of the vessels, although similar in distribution to the fleet of 1925, show a considera- 
ble increase in the number of large vessels. 
Because we are especially concerned with the fleets of the past 18 years, the year 
of building the vessels fishing during that time, and their size, are shown in table 14. 
The persistence of old vessels in the fleet is noteworthy, even though most of the 
smaller ones of early years have disappeared. 
4 Id order to establish the size of vessels composing the fleets of various years, it was necessary to identify as many as possible of 
the individual vessels which had engaged in the purse-seine fishery of the region. By means of the license applications in the files 
of the Washington State Fisheries Department, the Fireman’s Fund register of vessels documented on the Pacific coast, and the 
official Merchant Vessels Register of the United States Bureau of Navigation, the identity of 924 vessels was established, and the net 
tonnage, horsepower, and the year of building of each was recorded. 
20 25 30 
NET TONNAGE 
Figure 16. — Size distribution of vessels in the Puget Sound seine fleets at various in- 
tervals of development. The first histogram pictures the fleet shortly after the intro- 
duction of power; the second that of the exceptional year, 1917; the third the resum- 
ption of building after the post-war depression; and the fourth that of a recent year. 
