April -May, 1963
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a .11.111100. -411111111■1=Ml 411111111111111111111111■ .11111•1111•1111111•1111111111■ AN11111111■1111■11■ M11111■111M. .1111111111■ 1411■111, April -May, 1963 EPARTMENT IF F I An of (ye, PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES OF CANADA e r co e c CON TEN TS VOL. 15 NO. 10-11 FEATURES thi M. e v Modern Fishing Vessels and Gear 3 oc The Canadian Cod Fishery and the World Market 7 wi th oc a v lo, hi CANADIAN FISHERIES NEWS Hon. H. J. Robichaud New Minister of Fisheries 10 ey Canadian Food Conference in Ottawa 10 ur Meeting of Federal-Provincial Atlantic Fisheries Committee 12 th 12 th K.P. Lucas Asst. Director, Pacific Area th J.P. Hennessey Chief of Inspection Branch, Nfld. 12 6 In Fishery Figures for February 13- 14 , in th of w] CURRENT READING 15 6 s E SE COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Assigned to the Department of Fisheries Cif Barkley Sound sub-district in British Columbia, the "Comox Post, " of one of the Department's fleet of patrol vessels, undergoes trials ha after being re-engined. of The contents of TRADE NEWS are Crown Copyrighted but may be reprinted in other publications. Ref ere w to the source, however, would be appreciated. For further information with regard to TRADE NEWS w to the Director of the Information and Consumer Service, Department of Fisheries, Ottawa, Can Modern Fishing Vessels and Gear Electronics, Synthetics, New Propulsion Methods are Revolutionizing World Fishing Industry The accompanying article was prepared from an address given at Manitoba's Federation of Fishermen Annual Convention in Winnipeg on March 29, 1963, by W. W. Johnson, of the Industrial Development Service of the Department of Fisheries of Canada. Although his talk was mainly about vessels and gear used on the ocean, Mr. Johnson pointed out that many of the new developments could be applied to the freshwater fish- eries of Canada, and expressed the feeling that the f r e s hw ate r fisheries needed diversification through combination fishing. He thought methods could be developed which could produce coarse fish practically and economically as well as premium species. HERE IS no doubt that the greatest contribution of the vessel. Such a sounder was developed during T to the advancement of the fishing industry since the war for the detection of submarines. This type the war has come from the field of electronics. of equipment, known as asdic and sonar, has been Modern radio telephones are now so compact that successfully introduced into the fishing industry, even comparatively small vessels can talk across particularly in the herring fisheries of Europe. oceans. They allow fishing craft to maintain contact with other vessels which may be on good fishing, Virtually no fish from the largest species to they aid the distressed, and in many ways shorten minute plankton escape detection within the equip- ocean distances. We now feel that someone 50 miles ment's range of a mile or more. The usual practice away is right next door. The fisherman is no is for the vessel to steam full ahead with the asdic longer alone at sea; the radio phone has bolstered scanning a 180 degree arc. Once a shoal is spotted, his morale. the vessel homes, runs up to it andexamines length, breadth, depth and density with the asdic's echo Echo sounders now enable the fisherman to sounding features. 10 examine, in detail, the waters and sea-bed directly 10 under his vessel. He can view schools as w ell as Today asdic and sonar are employed primarily 12 the individual fish themselves. The peculiarities of in such pelagic fisheries as herring seining and mid- the schooling habits of the different species enables water trawling. The great advantage lies in the 12 the fisherman to recognize one shoal from another. fact that one vessel is able to cover vast areas, 12 In some cases, it is even poss ible to identify the considerably reducing searching time. There can 13- 14 individual fish as to species. be little doubt that asdic or sonar will become the future fish finding equipment for all methods of Not only is the depth accurately measured, but fishing. the sea-bed can be examined for rocks, wrecks and other obstructions. The bottom signal also tells Another offshoot from echo sounding that has whether the sea-bed is soft, silty or extremely hard. been a large boon to the advancement of mid-water trawling is the net sounder. The fisherman can, with this mode r n aid, select the species and assess the quantity before This consists of the mounting of a ship's echo setting his gear. He can also keep his gear at the sounder transducer in a float board at the bight on depths most frequented by the fish he seeks. Bottom the trawl s headline. A conductor cable from the obstructions are also a v oide d, eliminating much vessel's echo sounder to the float board carries the damage to fishing gear. Lastly, the echo sounder electronic signals. The net sounder enables one to has proved to be an excellent navigational aid. see the distance the trawl is off bottom, its vertical opening, and any fish which enter or pass under the While the echo sounder has taken the blindness gear. out of fishing, it ha s its limitations in that it only indicates what is directly under the vessel. There Mid-water trawling is still in developmental was a need to see what was ahead and off the sides phases throughout the world and the net sounder is - 3 - L o r an and De c c a have made it virtually is I impossible to lose fishing gear or position at sea. pla The automatic pilot also has made the task of standing watch easier than driving a car equipped gre with power steering. Course can be set by means the of a dial; to alter course it is necessary only to Thi push either a port or starboard button; release it gea and the ship returns to its original course. This exi maintains far greater accuracy than is possible by fila hand steering. The quartermaster's duties are now on, reduced to sitting in a comfortable chair and watch- is z ing out for traffic. and erl Some countries are now working on the pos- sibility of using computers to control fishing. For example, a vessel equipped for mid-water trawling wa: could have its electronic equipment, engine s and Co] winch controls operated tnrough 2 computer. The Rel asdic would locate the fish and relay the infor- nyl mation to the computer, which, after digesting the gill data, would alter the ship' s heading to direct it to tha the s cho ol. Then, through signals sent to the nyl winches, it would set the gear to the predetermined The author, right, and crew member attach a net depth at the correct trawling speed. Once the trawl sounder to the head-rope of a trawl net. had passed through the school, making a good catch, nat tension sensing devices on the warps would refer to the information to the computer, which in turn would whe probably one of the greatest contributions towards set the winches in motion to haul back the gear. by perfecting such gear. The net sounder will also see ves use in the present bottom trawls in the near future be i SYNTHETIC FIBRES and the results should be interesting. fur suc Probably the second greatest advance in fish- Radar's contribution to fishing is probably the to most appreciated of the many e le c t r oni c aids to eries has been made with the introduction of syn- navigation. It enable s the fisherman to navigate thetic fibres. These synthetics, under trade names such as nylon, orlon, perlon, courlene, gunlene and under nearly all adverse weather conditions which syn drumlene, nave almost universally replaced natural limit visibility. Not only can other fishing vessels as materials in fishing nets and lines. Because syn- in close proximity be ob served, but fishing gear gre thetics are unaffected by marine organisms, there mark buoys can also be located when visibility is for limited. for wo] Radar was, at one time, due to its size, power con requirements and cost, out of r e a c h of the small fishing vessel. It has now become compact and is priced within the reach of the small operator. Many fishing boats no more than 40 feet in length now enjoy the same privileges of safety, ing confidence and increased fishing time as do their pov much larger counterparts. Die spe Loran and Decca radio signal time measure- lar ment systems are used to pinpoint a vessel's posi- for tion at sea. Loran is a long -range navigational sid system covering vast ocean distances, while Decca usi is more suited to areas adjacent to coast lines. eng These systems nearly eliminate the need for celes- sha tial navigation in long open water voyages. The are a b distance from shore means nothing; a fisherman can 0 pinpoint special grounds, wrecks and rocks with fisl accuracy me asured in terms of yards or feet. A gill-net made of synthetic fibres. Mounted gill- Furthermore, after noting the p o s i ti on , he can nets range in length from 25 to 50 fathoms. return to the exact spot on later voyages. dev - 4 - ally is not the deterioration of gear that formerly took place with natural fibres. k of The biggest gains of all, however, are the aped greater strength and abrasion qualities that syn- ans thetics have over organic twine s of equal gauge.