736 BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OF FISHERIES 
Table 14. — Relation of size and year of building for vessels in the Puget Sound purse-seine fleet from 
RELATION OF VESSEL SIZE TO EFFICIENCY 
Any comparison of the number of vessels fishing in recent years to the number 
in any early year is of little significance unless consideration is given to the effi- 
ciency of the individual vessels of these respective periods. Many reasons may be 
offered for variation in vessel efficiency, but the greater number of these may be either 
directly or indirectly ascribed to the size of the vessel itself. 
With the exception of two brief periods of unfavorable economic conditions, the 
size of the new vessels added to the fleet each year has been gradually increasing. The 
