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Exploratory Fishing and GearDevelopmentMelvin R. Greenwood

Explorations to evaluate the commercialpotential of latent fish stocks and/orfishing grounds, along with studies fishing methods and equipment , wereformally established as a separateactivity of the Federal Government in

1/ Former Deputy Director , ResourceAssessment and Conservation EngineeringDivision , Northwest and AlaskaFisheries Center; present address:8620 142nd N. , Redmond , Wa 98052.

Original Cobb pelagic trawl spread outon the parking apron at SandpointNaval Air Station , Seattle , about 1960.

Tordenskjold catch of Pacific oceanperch off southeastern Alaska in 1957.

Captain Carl Serwold is standing onhatchcover.

1949. With the objective to developinformation needed by segments of thefishing industry interested inexpanding or diversifying to newfishing areas and/or new stocks offish , the special unit was designed tobridge an information gap inhibitingfishery development. To obtainpractical (commercially significant)catch-rate and catch-composition data,commercial scale fishing systems were

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operated by experienced commercialfishermen on chartered commercialfishing vessels or research yesselsbuil t expecially for this uniquepurpose. Pre-1949 U. S. Fish andWildlife Service (USFWS) exploratoryfishing and gear research (EF&GR)activities in the northeastern PacificOcean and eastern Bering Sea wereconducted by the Seattle TechnologicalLaboratory as elements of processingand preservation studies or multi-disciplinary efforts designed to helpindustry utilize additional fisheriesresources.

Information about potential commercialfish stocks not being utilized in thisarea began accumulating at least as farback as the 1888-90 surveys of the U.Fish Commission research vesselAlbatross in waters off theterritories of Oregon and Alaska.Although these early studies werebasically for biological inventory andnot intended to determine commercialproduction potential, the systematiccoverage, which included documentationof habitat along with distribution andrela tive abundance by species , providedsolid background for ensuingexplorations. Additional informationcame from monitoring Japanese BeringSea fisheries as well as fromincidental catch data on observationsof domestic commercial fisheries. Thefirst major exploratory fishingexpedition , the Alaskan king crabinvestigation of 1940-41 , was an effortto study the resource and demonstratefeasibility for a domestic king crabfishery in the Bering Sea whereJapanese floating canneries and fishingvessels had operated since about 1930.The following paragraph from theinvestigative report illustrates thelevel of concern at that time and setsforth initial reasoning for involvingnational government in such work:

Increasing (exploitation) of a crabfishery by foreign nationals in waterimmediately adjacent to United Statesterritory for subsequent export to theUnited States , raised serious questionas to whether American interests weremaking adequate use of domestic fisheryresources. Accordingly, early in 1940,the President requested the Secretaryof the Interior to investigate thepracticability of establishing anAmerican king crab canning industry inAlaska. Initial inquiry ind icated thatlack of information regarding areas ofabundance , methods for taking andcanning king crab, and a general fearof not being able to compete with theimported product on a cost basis werethe primary obstacles retardingdomestic development. Since the costof necessary exploratory work would beprohibitive for private enterpriseunder conditions then prevailing, theCongress authorized the Fish andWildlife Service to make the study.

Roger Harrison, then in charge of theSeattle Technological Laboratory,USFWS, was overall supervisor of theinvestigation. Carl Carlson, FisheryEngineer , took leadership anddocumentatian roles in regard tovessels, on-board processing andfishing systems, and exploratoryfishing. Carlson thus became the firstUSFWS exploratory fishing and gearspecialist. He served in a similarcapacity with several subsequentexpeditions during the 1940s. Otherinvestigative staff members includedfour fishery biologists--Arthur Hvatum,Camile Pertui t , Waldo Schmitt, andMarvin Wallace; a fisheryeconomist--Leroy Christey; and afishery technologist--Joseph Puncochar.Schmitt was on detail from theSmithsonian Institution where he wasCurator of Marine Invertebrates. Theexpeditionary fleet included thecannery vessel Tondeleyo (Capt. Arthur

Nelsen), the first year only; thefishing vessel Dorothy (Capt.Ellsworth Trafton), both years; and thefishing vessels Locks (Capt. HarryGuffey) and Champion (Capt. AndersNilsen), the second year only.

The survey spanned thousands of milesall the way from southeastern Alaska,around the perimeter of the Gulf ofAlaska, through the Bering Sea

, "

within sight of Siberia" (near St.Lawrence Island). A large king crabpopulation was described in the BeringSea near Alaska Peninsula , whilesmaller but substantial concentrationswere noted in Pavlof Bay and Canoe Bayon the south side of the peninsulaaround Kodiak Island , and in lower CookInlet. A comprehensive report waspublished as a Special NumberSupplemen t to Fishery Market News inMay 1942, just 8 months aftercompletion of field work. The reportwas enhanced by four detailedappendices: 1) log of fishingoperations, 2) fishing gearspecifications , 3) description ofcanning operations, and 4) review ofJapanese Bering Sea king crab fishery.The timeliness of publication plus thefishing log and fishing gearspecifications became continuingfeatures of EF&GR reporting. Sincecommercial type and scale otter trawlswere the chief survey gear , a wealth ofinformation on groundfish potentialavailability was collected. The reportcalls attention to " .. .an enormousreserve of edible fish--notably soleand pollock--which is at present whollyunut ilized.

In 1945 with the above findings inmind, the War Food Administrationrecommended conversion of an ocean-going vessel into a factory ship andconstruction of five combinationfishing vessels to supply it withotherwise unutilized raw materials

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needed to help overcome the wartimeshortage of meat protein. At the endof World War II that same year , adecision was made by the Director , theWar Mobilization and ReconversionBoard , to complete conversion of the410 ft. long cargo/factory/mother-ship,Pacific Explorer , and construction offour of the fishing vessels: AlaskaCalifornia Oregon , and WashingtonThe work was funded under theReconstruction Finance Corporation(RFC) which designated the PacificExploration Company (PEC) as its agentfor construction and operation of thefleet. The vessels were leased to PECat $50, 000 per year plus 55% of theprofits. To assure maximum economictechnical , and scientific benefits tothe Government and the domestic fishingindustry--provision was made forGovernment representatives to accompanythe vessels and publish reports ontheir observations. The first of thePEC vessels to engage in a combinationpro d uc t ion / ex pI rat ion / res ear c hoperation in the northeast Pacific andBering Sea was the Alaska in 1947 withJoseph King, Aquatic Biologist , Branchof Fishery Biology, USFWS, on board observe and record operations. After ashakedown cruise as a tuna receivingship off Costa Rica in 1947, the SSPacific Explorer (along with 10chartered catcher vessels: BearBorris Dorothy Foremost Jeannette

Kiska Mars Pearl Harbor Sunbeamand Tordenskjold) processed and packedking crab and groundfish in the springof 1948. Norman Wigutoff , FisheryMarketing Specialist at the KetchikanFishery Products Laboratory, andCarlson, then Chief , Section ofExploratory Fis~ing, Pacific OceanFishery Investigations (POFI) atHonolulu, participated in and reportedon operations. The Alaska and Oregonrespectively, rigged for purse-seineand live-bait fishing, prospected forwestern Pacific tuna in 1948 with O. R.

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Smith and M. B. Schaefer of POFI onboard as observers.

Studies relevant to the northeastPacific Ocean and Bering Sea fisheriesdevelopment, in addition to king crab-groundfish investigations occurringprior to initiation of ExploratoryFishing and Gear Development Sectionoperations in 1948, included shrimpexplorations sponsored by the AlaskaFisheries Experimental Commission(AFEC) in 1944 to determine

. . .

commercial possibilities of shrimpresources in certain southeasternAlaska areas... " and in 1945 ashoreside survey to acquire input fromlocal residents regarding possibilitiesfor fisheries development in the Nomearea. A similar shoreside survey in1949 covered the rest of SewardPeninsula plus other areas aroundKotzebue Sound as well as certainrivers and lakes in western Alaska.The AFEC was created by the Territoryof Alaska "

.. .

to perform technologicalresearch and conduct studies to developthe fisheries of Alaska. TheKetchikan Fishery Products Laboratorywas jointly supported and shared byAFEC and USFWS. Commission members in1944 were Governor Ernest Gruening,Chairman; John Mendenhall , Secretary;and Lyle Anderson , Technologist Charge, Fishery Products Laboratory.The 1944 shrimp survey was directed byCarlson, Fishery Engineer , on detailfrom the Seattle Fishery TechnologicalLaboratory. Carlson and A. W.Anderson, Chief of the Branch ofCommercial Fisheries at the time, didthe 1945 personal-contact survey in theNome area--while Wigutoff and ClarenceCarlson , USFWS, Fishery MarketingSpecialist , and AFEC Chemist,respectively, at the Ketchikan FisheryProducts Laboratory, made the moreextensive western Alaska shoreside-interview survey in 1949.

NORTH PACIFIC EF&GR, 1948-

By 1947 it was apparent that anexploratory fishing and geardevelopment unit was to be set upshortly. During 1948, exploratoryfishing and gear development activitieswere initiated within the SeattleTechnological Laboratory under MauriceStansby. The aim was to organize aworking group that would be ready tooperate on the Pacific Coast as soon asthe new activity could be developed.Funds totaling $92, 680 were madeavailable to the Laboratory forexploratory fishing operations on1 July 1948.

The Washington , one of the PEC catchervessels , was transferred to the SeattleLaboratory in July 1948 to be used inthe new exploratory fishing proj ect .The Washington made a 2-month trip tothe Bering Sea , leaving Seattle on 23August. Aboard on this trip--laterdesignated as Exploratory Cruise (Expl.Cr. ) No. 1, North Pacific FisheriesExploration and Gear Research--wereJoseph ElIson, fishery engineer , laternamed Proj ect Leader for the newExploratory Fishing Project at Seattle;Boris Knake, fishery engineertemporarily detailed to Seattle fromthe Bureau s program in Boston; JohnDassow, chemist , Seattle TechnologicalLaboratory; and the vessel crew underCapt. Edwin Hansen. Late in 1948 itwas decided that the Washington was notsui table for the kind of work neededand was sold for $150,000. This moneywas applied towards construction of anew research vessel , the John N. Cobb

Although construction planning for theJohn N. Cobb consumed considerablestaff time , two more exploratoryfishing cruises were completed in1949--Expl. Cr. No. 2, a Bering Seaking crab and groundfish survey, was

conducted aboard the 140-ft chartervessel Deep Sea The Deep Seadesigned especially for king crabfishing and processing, was built andoperated under' terms of the RFC. Shewas operated by Wakef ield Fisheries , apioneer large-scale king crab producerin wes tern Gulf of Alaska and theBering Sea. The vessel' s crew includedCapt. William Blackford and Mate-Fisherman Jose Franco. Franco alsolater served as Mate-Fisherman andCaptain of the John N. Cobb ElIson,Donald Powell (Seattle-based fisheryengineer) and Henry Hildebrand (fisheryresearch biologist , Branch of FisheryBiology) were aboard to direct anddocument operations. Expl. Cr. No.with the former PEC vessel, Oregon , wasdesigned to determine distribution ofalbacore tuna during its summermigration off Oregon , Washington , andBritish Columbia with Powell andHildebrand aboard.

The Oregon later became the serviceexploratory fishing and gear researchvessel in the Gulf of Mexico andwestern Atlantic Ocean , operating outof pascagoula, Mississippi. Afterbeing replaced by the new and largerOregon II in the mid 1960s ~ the Oregonwas returned to the Northwest in 1969where she participated in Gulf Alaska and Bering Sea explorations andresource assessment operations untilfinally being decommissioned in 1980.

During 1949, work was also underway inSeattle to develop an ExploratoryFishing Unit for a new laboratory inHonolulu which was to conduct aprogram then known as the PacificOceanic Fishery Investigation (POFI).Carlson and another fishery engineerThomas Roseberry, were stationed inSeattle during 1948 making preparationsfor fishery engineering work in thePOFI program as soon as the Honolululaboratory building was completed. The

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exploratory fishing program operatedthere for only about 2 years , howeverbefore being discontinued.

Late in 1949 the Seattle ExploratoryFishing Proj ect was officiallytransferred from the TechnologicalLaboratory to function as a separateentity. It remained under the localsupervision of ElIson , who reported tothe Section of Exploratory Fishing,under Richard Whi teleather, in theWashing ton , D. C. , office.

Individuals serving as Chief , NorthPacific Fisheries Exploration and GearResearch , 1949-71, were as follows:

1949 to1950 to1951 to1955 to1958 to1969 to

1950... . Joseph ElIson1951. . . .Donald Powell1955... . Joseph ElIson1958... .Donald Powell1968... .Dayton Alverson1971. . . .A. T. Pruter

Activities , 1948-

Thanks to the anticipatory actions , theSeattle exploratory fishing program wasin full swing with three cruisescompleted by its official starting datein 1949. The John N Cobb , designedspecifically for exploratory fishingand gear development , was underconstruction and nearly complete.After it was commissioned in February1950, full operations were possiblewi th the vessel' s shakedown cruise tosoutheastern Alaska for shellfishexplorations in March and Aprildes igna ted Expl. Cr. No.

The North Pacific Fisheries Explorationand Gear Research Program developedinformation on resource distribut ion,abundance , and catchability of latentfish stocks. Segments of the fishingindustry considering expansion ordiversification expressed need for such

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information and their recommendationshelped establish goals, priorities , andschedules. Significant contributionsthrough the 1950s led directly to newor expanded fisheries on continentalshelf-slope stocks of groundfish , craband shrimp from waters off Oregon andWashington, around the Gulf of Alaska,and into the Bering Sea.

Fishing methods and equipment wereoften designed, fabricated, modified,tested, and/or evaluated in conjunctionwith exploratory fishing operations.Significant improvements introduced inearly years included a power roller haul tangle nets; a tension block todampen the shock of albacore hittingfast trolled lures; floating trapsgillnets , and longlines for high-seassalmon assessment; tags for tuna,salmon, and other fish; migrationstudies; and Gulf of Mexico-type shrimptrawls. Eleven of the John N. Cobbfirst 41 cruises were devoted tostudies of fishing methods andequipment--seven to midwater trawling,two to a fish pump device , and two tobottom and shrimp trawling.

Midwater trawling was emphasizedbecause of the mounting evidence oflarge unused pelagic fish stocks suchas northern anchovy, Pacific herring,Pacific saury, walleye pollock, Pacificwhiting (hake), and various rockfishthat were not available to conventionalfishing systems. Aimed trawling wasconsidered necessary to effectivelyassess and economically harvest suchresources. The high-volume PacificWhiting and walleye pollock fisherieswhich have developed in the northeastPacific and Bering Sea since the late1950s proved these proj ections to becorrect.

Groundfish Explorations

Explorations , led by Dayton Alversonalong the continental shelf and slopeoff Oregon and Washington , locatedpreviously unknown trawling areas andconcentrations of rockfish

, "

solesand sablefish (black cod) during1951-52. Other significant groundfishexplorations took place in the 1950s onthe continental shelf around theperimeter of the Gulf of Alaska fromDixon Entrance to Unimak Pass. Ledal ternately by ElIson, EdwardSchaefers , Keith Smith , MelvinGreenwood , and Harold Johnson, about cruises involving groundfish revealedextensive trawlable areas and latentstocks of fish--mainly rockfish andwalleye pollock. At that time,domestic fisheries were not able toutilize these limited-value speciesfrom such remote grounds, but near theend of the decade large Soviet andJapanese trawl fleets appeared andfished them heavily for nearly 20years. Only recently, thanks to theMagnuson Fishery Conservation andManagement Act (FCMA) of 1976 andavailability of the large combinationcrabber-trawler vessels, domesticfisherman have entered joint-ventureoperations to produce these fish inhuge quantities for processing at seaaboard foreign factory ships.

Shrimp Explorations

Incidental-catch and stomach-contentdata consistently pointed to a biggershrimp resource than was evidenced byproduc tion results through the mid1950s. Researchers and fish producersagreed to the importance of shrimpexplorations, and 11 of the John NCobb s first 23 cruises during 1950-included maj or efforts to locatecommercially significant concentrationsof shrimp. Most of these cruises,

including her first cruise , were headedby Schaefers with support from ElIson,Robert Livingston , Smith , Greenwood,and Johnson. A breakthrough Whichoccurred in 1956 was the introductionof a Gulf of Mexico-type shrimp trawlwhich proved far more effective fortaking the relatively small pandalidpink shr imp found in the northeasternPacific Ocean and Bering Sea than werethe beam trawls and small-mesh ottertrawls used previously for research andcommercial production. Catches ofabout 1 000 lb per 30-minute trawl offthe Washington coast stimulated highinterest in establishing a new industryin the Grays Harbor and Willapa Bayareas.

Following a successful experiment onprocessing shrimp from Washington at aGulf of Mexico plant (arranged by theSeattle and pascagoula, MississippiTechnology Laboratories), shrimppeeling machines were introducted tothe Pacific coast in 1956. These werecapable of handling the very smallshrimp (100 to 200 heads-on count) inprofitable quantities. Unfortunatelyan economic boom-and- bus t developed inthe Grays Harbor-Willapa Bay area andran its course over a 2 year peri0d.With more than 20 peeling machinesoperating, fishermen quickly reducedthe shrimp population until catch ratesfell to unprofitable levels for bothvessels and plants.

In the interim , however , shrimpsurveyors with the Gulf trawls off thesouth shore of Alaska Peninsula and inthe Cook Inlet-Kodiak Island arealocated even heavier and more extensiveconcentrations. In 1957, average catchrates by the charter trawlerTordenskjold in five separate areasaround the Shumagin Islands ranged from

100 to 5, 900 lb per hour. In 1958,catches of 900 to 3, 500 lb per hourwere taken by the John N. Cobb in the

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lower Cook Inlet and Kenai Peninsulaareas; during the same cruise , catchrates frequently exceeded 2, 000 lb perhour in the Kodiak Island-ShelikofStrait area. Shrimp processingfacilities were soon set up inSeldovia , Kodiak, and Sand Point wheresome of the excess Grays Harbormachinery was used. Four cruises offWashington and Oregon in 1958 found newconcentrations of shrimp Which helpedstabilize commercial endeavors based atGrays Harbor and Willapa Bay,Washington , and Warrington, Oregon.The 1957-58 Alaska and Washington-Oregon surveys were led alternately byAlverson , Greenwood, Johnson , and FredWathne.

Shrimp production in Washington andOregon increased from nearly zero in1956 to about 3 million lb in 1957 andmore than 9 million lb in 1958. InAlaska production rose from a maximumof about 2 1/2 million lb per yearthrough 1957 to 8 and 13 million Ib in1958 and 1959, respectively. Alaskashrimp production climbed steadily toabout 48 million lb in 1969 and 128million lb' in 1976. Washington-Oregonproduction ranged from 2 to 35 millionI b per year during the 1960s and 1970s.

Alaska Crab Explorations

Although no cruises were dedicatedexclusively to crab explorations in the1950s , king crab and snow (Tanner) crabwere caught regularly in commerciallysignificant quantities in the bottomtrawls, shrimp trawls, and crab potsfished in 1954 and during 1956-59.Gulf of Alaska explorations werecarried out from the John N. Cobb andthe Tordenskjold This informationalong wi th that obtained during theoriginal king crab expeditions providedbasic distribution data that helped thefishery develop. Prior to 1950,

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domestic Alaska king crab productionhad never exceeded 1 1/2 million lb.The yield passed 5 million Ib in 1957,10 million in 1958, 25 million in 1960,and a peak of 159 million in 1966.Snow crab production, virtuallynon-existent through 1961, reached 61million lb in 1973.

Albacore Tuna Explorations

The summertime abundance, distribution,and availability of albacore tuna fromoff Northern California to offsoutheastern Alaska was studiedannually during 1949-52 and in 1956.The purpose was to find reasons forvariations affecting year-to-yearproductivity of commercial fishing.Under Powell and/or Schaefers, an areaup to 800 mi offshore was covered withvarious fishing and environmentalmonitoring systems. When conventionaltags (used for migration studies)appeared unsui ted to the fast swimmingtuna, Alverson conducted tests in theUniversity of Washington hydraulicslaboratory Where ribbon-like streamertags were found to last longer atselected rates of flow. Specificreasons for year-to-year changes inabundance and distribution were notpinpointed. The only consistentenvironmental factor was that noalbacore were found in waters colderthan 5 7 F. Since no way was found topredict the probability of commerciallysignificant concentrations of fish inadvance , fishermen armed only wi th the

F minimum temperature informationbecame accustomed to prospecting eachyear.

Cobb Seamount

In 1950, during the John N. Cobbsecond cruise, a previously unchartedsea mount was located 270 miles west of

Willapa Bay. Subsequenty namedCobb Seamount , it rises from the 1600-fm deep-ocean floor to wi thin 22 fm ofthe surface.

High-Seas Salmon Assessment Survey andGear Development

In connection with missions of theInternational Convention for High SeasFisheries of the North Pacific Oceanand its successor agency, theIn ternational North Pacific FisheriesCommission, EF&GR personnelpartic ipa ted in a high-seas salmonsurvey off both sides of the AleutianIslands in 1953, in the Gulf of Alaskain 1955, and south of the Gulf in 1956.

The John N. Cobb , operating alone in1953, fished experimental gillnets,longlines , and a floating trap tocompare effectiveness and selectivityfor taking the five northeast Pacificsalmon species and steelhead trout. 1955 she was one of three vesselsfishing standardized gillnets andlongline gear and took salmon as far as400 miles offshore. This vessel alsotook part in a multi-vessel operationin 1956 where her assigned areaincluded the previously explored summeralbacore grounds off northernCalifornia , Oregon , Washington , andBritish Columbia. Both salmon andalbacore were taken but never at thesame location. Schaefers and FrancisFukuhara of the Branch of FisheriesBiology shared leadership in 1953, andSchaefers and Powell alternated asField Party Chief in 1955 and 1956.

Chukchi Sea Baseline Study

In connection with the Atomic EnergyCommission s Proj ect Chariot proposal to use nuclear force to createa harbor near Point Hope), anexpedition headed by Alverson aboard

the John N. Cobb inventoried marineorganisms in southeast Chukchi Sea in1959. Richard McNeely was also onboard, as were Albert Sparks , Wal terPereyra , and other scientists from theUniversity of Washington.

Miscellaneous Explorations

Other explorations during the 1950sinvolved abalone , herring, and scallopin Alaska. Livingston investigated thecommercial potential of abalone in thelower outer islands of southeasternAlaska in 1951. The maximum of only 40lb found by the hired professionalhard-hat Alaska salmon trap diver wasconsidered insufficient to be ofcommercial interest.

Two John N. Cobb cruises led byLawrence Kolloen, Branch of FisheryBiology, and Smith were designed determine the availability of herringin late fall and winter; these wereconducted in southeastern Alaska in1952 and in Prince William Sound in1953. Neither endeavor producedcommercially significant catches , butthey did provide valuable life historyinformation. A scallop dredge wasoperated during one cruise offWashington and portions of othercruises in t~e Gulf of Alaska duringthe 1950s without findingconcentrations large enough to sustaincommercial operations.

Fi sh Pump Expe r imen t s

Initial dedicated gear research workbegan in 1952 with the first of twoefforts to develop a system to attractand pump fish such as herring directlyfrom the sea onboard fishing vessels.ElIson was in charge of the firsttrials. In 1954 the second effort wasled by Smith , who added a pulsed

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electric field to the lightattraction/pumping system. This wasmoderately successful with averagecatch rates of more than 40, 000 smallherring per hour. However , this workwas never pursued because othersystems , such as seines and trapsproved to be more efficient forherring.

Midwa ter Trawl Development

Starting in 1954 with testing of theSwedish Phantom Trawl, the base becameintensely involved with midwater trawl(MWT) development and evaluation.These tests demonstrated the need foraccurate net depth monitoring. Cablelength-cable angle tables provided withthe Phantom Trawl provided only roughestimates in shallow sets and werevirtually useless in deeper sets. Twoyears later , in 1956, Reidar Sands andMcNeely from the BCF Gear ResearchStation at Coral Gables , Florida,participated in the second MWTdevelopment cruise. The acoustic- linkdepth telemeter developed at CoralGables was used successfully to monitornet depths. McNeely was transferred Seattle later that year to head up theMWT development effort. By 1960 , theacoustic-link telemeter had given wayto a direct-wire system (through thetrawl cable). Both systems employedpressure potentiometers to indicateddepth. Several MWT nets tried duringthe late 19508 produced large catches(mainly Pacific whiting and rockfish)infrequently.

SCUBA Diving Team

The Base acquired its first SCUBA(Self-Contained Underwater BreathingApparatus) diving team in early 1959.Greenwood , Peter Larsen (Mate/Fishermanaboard the John N. Cobb at that time),

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McNeely, and Wathne were trained by thediving unit at the U. S. Navy (USN)Freeport Torpedo Station. Several ofthe Navy divers, including their leaderChief Robert Sheats , later participatedin fishing gear research operations.During 1959 and 1960, the diving teambecame familiar with performancecharacteristics of groundfish trawls,shrimp trawls , and midwater trawlsthrough direct observations from atowed diving sled or while swimmingfree and hanging on to various parts ofthe nets. As a matter of interest , inthe spring of 1959, Reader s Digestpublished an account of how ChiefSheats and other USN divers , who whileprisoners during WWII, managed todelude their captors about the locationof the Philippine s silver treasurewhich had been scut tIed in Manila Bayfor safekeeping during the Japaneseoccupa tion.

N. Fishing Gear Congress

Sponsored by United Nations ' Food andAgriculture Organization, the firstInternational Fishing Gear Congress washeld in Hamburg, Germany, in October1957. Two papers by Base personnelwere presented-- A Practical DepthTelemeter for Midwater Trawls, " byMcNeely and "Correlation of MidwaterTrawl Catches with Echo R~cordings fromthe Northeast Pacific, " by Schaefersand Powell. Alverson , with theWashington Department of Fisheries atthis time, also presented a paperentitled "Trends in Trawling Methodsand Gear on the West Coast of the U. S.

During the first half dozen years orso, Seattle exploratory fishing andgear specialists continued with thedesignation Fishery Engineer. In themid 1950s this was changed to FisheryMethods and Equipment Specialist forvirtually everyone. Not until the

early 1960s did position titles reflectthe nature of work performed andresponsibilities , such as: ElectricalEngineer , Electronic Scientist, FisheryBiologist (Research), Fishery Biologist(Supervisor), etc.

Notes on Departing Personnel , 1948-

Scientific and technical personnelemployed at the Seattle EF&GR Base1948-60, are listed in , the accompanyingtables. Following are brief accountsof those leaving federal service ortransferring to other positions.

ElIson, the first Base Director wentto Washington , D. , for about 1 year(1950-51) as Chief of the ExploratoryFishing Section. Upon returning toSeattle , he assumed the position ofBase Director another 4 years beforeleaving federal service to work in theAlaska salmon industry.

Powell spent 4 years (1951-55) inWashington , D. , first as AssistantChief and then as Chief of theExploratory Fishing Section. In 1958,after 3 years as Base Director , he waspromoted to Deputy Director , NorthwestRegion, BCF. To the dismay of his manyfriends, Powell succumbed to cancerjus t a few years later.

Alverson left the Base in 1952 forabout 6 years to direct groundfishresearch in the Washington StateDepartment of Fisheries. He returnedto take over as Director of the Base in1958.

Schaefers was promoted to Deputy Chief,Branch of Exploratory Fishing, BCFheadquarters, in 1958. During 13 yearsin the central office before returningto NWAFC, he held increasinglyresponsible positions in the BranchDivision , and Director s offices

including: Acting Chief of ExploratoryFishing Branch; Deputy AssistantDirector , Division of IndustrialResearch and Services; Deputy AssistantDirector for Utilization andEngineering; and Special Assistant Associate Director for Fisheries.Responsibilities beyond programmanagemen t included leadership in thedesign and construction of the BCFresearch vessels: the Miller FreemanAlbatross IV David Starr JordanOregon II Townsend Cromwell Delaware

, and Kaho plus conversions ofseveral Navy ships. Schaefers servedon the U. S. Coast Guard IndustryAdvisory Committee on Rules of theRoad; and on the Fishing Vessel SafetySub-Committee Department of StateShipping Coordinating Committee , forthe Safety of Life at Sea Convention,Intergovernmental Maritime ConsultativeOrganization (IMCO), United Nations.During his second tour of duty atNWAFC , 1971-81, he was SpecialAssistant to the Director and DeputyDirector.

Livingston transferred to thegroundfish research program at the BCFFisheries Laboratory in Woods HoleMassachusetts , in 1951.

Smith was promoted in 1955 to ChiefEF&GR Station , Boothbay Harbor, Mainea subsidiary of North AtlanticFisheries Exploration and GearResearch , Boston, Massachusetts. later became Director, EF&GR BaseNortheast Region, when it wasconsolidated and moved to Gloucester,Massachusetts. After the nationalreorganization in 1969, Smith heldseveral positions including FisheryManagement Council liaison at WoodsHole until his retirement in 1980. Inaddition to his contributions atSeattle, he led fishing system R&D asrelated to groundfish electro-trawl,Maine sardine air-curtain, and pot gear

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for deepwater lobster and red crabs.The 156 ft Delaware II was designed andbuilt while Smith was Base Director.

Greenwood was promoted to DirectorEF&GR Base, Great Lakes and InlandRegion, in 1960. Headquartered in AnnArbor , Michigan , the Base includedfield stations at Erie , Pennsylvania;Sangatuck, Michigan; Mobridge, SouthDako ta; and Kelso , Arkansas. UnderGreenwood' s direction for 10 years, theunit was involved in assessment oflatent fish stocks of the Great Lakesand the large reservoirs of theMississippi , Missouri , and Ohio riversystems. The proof of availability oflatent fish stocks for lengthy periodsto one or a combination of fishingmethods helped the Great Lakes industryadjust to the violent changes inspecies composition triggered by thesea lamprey invasion and facilitatedintroduction of new fisheries inseveral reservoirs. A unique fishinggear research and development programhelped the new farm pond channelcatfish industry eliminate prohibitiveharvesting costs. This industry andthe Lake Michigan alewife fishery haveeach produced about 50 million poundsof fish annually since the late 1960s.

In 1970 , Greenwood transferred Washington , D. , where he heldposi tions as Acting Chief , Division ofExploratory Fishing; Chief , Division ofResource Technology; and Assistant forNMFS Support to Associate Director forFleet Operations, National OceanSurvey, before being transferred backto NWAFC in 1976. He , too , served onthe U. S. Coast Guard Industry AdvisoryCommittee on Rules of the Road and theIMCO Fishing Vessel Safety Sub-Committee , plus the EnvironmentalSciences Advisory Committee of theWashington (D . ) Technical Institute.

Wathne transferred to the BCF Gear

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Research Station at Panama City,Florida, in 1960, where he participatedin research on an electro- fi-shingsystem for shrimp before transferringto the central office of exploratoryfishing in 1965. In 1967, he leftfederal service for 5 years to work forthe Fishery Development Unit of theUnited Nations ' Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO). Upon completion ofthat assignment, he returned to NWAFCin 1972.

Through 1958, all administrative,secretarial, and other support serviceswere provided by the able group headedby Patricia Terao which served boththe technology and exploratory fishingunits. In 1959, Wilma Abbey became thefirst secretary to work exclusively forexploratory fishing.

NORTH PACIFIC EF&GR, 1960-

During the 1960s , the program wasadj usted to meet the requirements of anagency reorganization , the state of ourknowledge of la ten t resources , and newpoli tical-social-sc ien tific-economicsituations. The name of the unitbecame Exploratory Fishing and GearResearch (EF&GR) Base, NorthwestRegion, subsequent to the Fish andWildlife Reorganization Act of 1958.Through the 1960s , a major part ofoperations , in addition to generalexploratory fishing, concerned a studyof the effects of changing environmentupon fish , especially as related toatomic energy activities. Also , newtechnology led to world-wide efforts todevelop electronic counting systems forpelag ic and near-bot tom fish.Explorations during the 1960s wereoften combined wi th gear developmentwork , especially on MWTs for Pacificwhiting and other off-bottom species

and on fish traps for sablefish.

Bioenvironmental Baseline Studies

The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)funded studies designed to measure theeffects of their proj ects on the marineenvironment and organisms , includingfish. Following proj ec t Chariot in theChukchi Sea , AEC funded a study nearthe mouth of the Columbia River todetermine potential changes in fishpopulations caused by discharge intothe ocean of water containing traceamounts of radionuclides. Thesesubstances originated from coolingwater systems used by nuclear plants atHanford, Washington. A monitoringprogram was continued throughout the1960s until most of the reactors wereshut down. Many Base staff members,led al ternately by Hiromu Heyamoto,Pruter , and Pereyra, participated inthe study, which required surveys withbottom trawls and other samplingequipment several times a year.

~ ,

The only operations conducted by theSeattle base north of British Columbiain the 1960s were two groundfishsurveys by the John N. Cobb in 1961-between Cape St. Elias and KodiakIsland. Robert Hi tz, Johnson, andPruter led these expeditions. In 1963an exploratory fishing and gearresearch base was established at Juneauto serve the Alaska Region.

Groundfish Explorations

More than 10 groundfish surveys alongthe Pacific coast, plus the AEC relatedwork off the Columbia River , succeededin 1) locating clear trawling areas ongrounds previously avoided bycommercial fishermen, 2) find ingfishable concentrations of dover andpetrale sole plus Pacific ocean perch

and other rockfish , and 3) defining thebathYmetric distribution of sablefish.This work was led at various times byPruter , Heyamoto , Johnson , Hitz, andLael Ronholt.

Pelag~c Explorations and Fishing Gear

Refined definition of the large Pacificwhi ting resource , improvements inmidwater trawling systems , and growthof the Soviet trawl fishery off theWest Coast in the mid 1960s created adilemma regarding development of adomestic Pacific whiting fishery.Despi te a substantial effort Whichincluded building a new fish meal plantin Aberdeen and operation of a 10-boatfishing fleet , a combination of lowprices , the effect of the Soviet trawlfleet on fish distribution , and othermore lucrative opportunities forvessels created an unprofitablesituation. Since 1977, howeversubstantial domestic Pacific whitingproduction has been experienced thanksto the protective effect of the 200-mile fisheries conservation zone FCMA plus the advent of joint-venturefisheries in which foreign factoryships are allowed to buy fish directlyfrom U. S. fishermen at sea. McNeely,Leonard Johnson , Hitz, Miles Alton , andMartin Nelson all played importantroles in this work.

The Base, in cooperation wi th theUniversi ty of Washington, establishednational and international credibilityin the field of electronic in situ fishcounting using quantitative echo signalprocessing systems.

Pelagic species other than Pacificwhiting, such as northern anchovies andPacific saury, have been investigatedfor commercial potential. Under thedirection of McNeely and many othersattracting lights , lampara seines

119

small mesh midwater trawls, and low-light-level image intensifiers wereused wi th only moderate success.

By the end of the decade , Pacificwhiting assessment was supplementedwi th special winter surveys of eggslarvae , and juveniles off southernCalifornia and northern Mexico incooperation wi th the NMFS SouthwestFisheries Center at La Jolla,California.

Shrimp Explorations and Gear

Few cruises during the 1960s were of anexploratory nature because more effortwas being devoted to developing asystem to reduce the incidental catchof small fish in shrimp catches.Elimination of on-deck sortingincreases efficiency, especially withsmall catches which contain a higherpercentage of fish. Jerry JurkovichIan Ellis , William High , and otherspartic ipa ted in this work.

A vertical shrimp sampler was designedand used with great success. Theseexperiments verified the phototrophiceffect of ambient light on shrimp. Notonly do shrimp spread upward throughthe water column at night andconcentrate near the bottom duringdaylight , but the distribution ofshrimp in the water column is alsoaffected by cloud density.

Relatively effective separator trawlnets were developed, but the industrywas reluctant to use them due complexities of rigging and operationof the gear.

Sablefish Explorations and Gear

Regular groundfish explorations anddeepwater trawling during the AEC study

120

revealed a sizeable deepwater sablefishpopulation off Washington, Oregon, andnorthern California. The largest andmost abundant specimens were at depthsbeyond the capacity of most domestictrawlers. Since sablefish had beenobserved to readily enter king crabpot s used in Alaskan waters, it wasdecided to try to develop a trappingsystem to effectively catch thisspecies. This work was begun in thelate 1960s by Fred Hipkins and StevenHughes , but the bulk of the developmentof this fishery took place in the early1970s.

Participation in International Decadeof Ocean Exploration (IDOE)

The unit participated in two IDOEproj ects , funded by the NationalScience Foundation (NSF). In 1963,Pruter , Pereyra , Ivan Fjaerestad, andArne Leren of the Seattle Base togetherwith A. K. Larssen , a well knowncommercial fisherman and gear expertpartic ipa ted in the In ternationalIndian Ocean Expedition. They wereresponsible for carrying out trawlsurveys in the Bay of Bengal andArabian Sea from the NSF researchvessel Anton Bruun Alton, KennethWaldron, and Ellis directed exploratoryfishing operations with groundfishtrawl, Blake trawl , and long line gearfrom the Hero for Antarctic ResourcesInvestigation , under the auspices ofthe NSF.

Second World Fishing Gear Congress

The second fishing gear conferencesponsored by the U.N. was held inLondon, England, in May 1963. Twopapers by Seattle personnel included:Development of Cobb Pelagic Trawl, " byMcNeely and "Prospective Developmentsin the Harvesting of Marine Fishes " by

Alverson and Norman J. Wilimovsky.

ALASKA REGION EF&GR

Increasing need for information by thefishing industry in southeastern Alaskaprompted the establishment of an EF&GRBase in Juneau , Alaska, in 1960.Although operated through the BCFAlaska Regional Office , close workingassociations were maintained betweenthe Juneau EF&GR staff and theirSeattle counterparts. Their mutualinterests in developing Alaska fisheryresources 'soon resulted in thecontinua tion or expansion ofexploratory activities started earlierby Seattle personnel and in jointJuneau-Seattle surveys.

Groundfish explorations

From 1960 to 1967, five exploratorysurveys along the continental shelf offsoutheast Alaska succeeded in1) find ing sizable commercialconcentrations of Pacific ocean perchand other rockfish , 2) locatingtrawlable bottom areas in offshorereg ions from Si tka to Cape Ommaney, and3) exploring waters of the insidepassage for sablefish. CharlesConnelley, the first EF&GR BaseDirector , initially led this work.Other persons involved in groundfishexploratory surveys included Ronholt,Serge Astrahantseff, and RobertWolotira. The latter two workedjointly with Hitz and Norman Parks ofSeattle EF&GR in developing anextensive trawl survey atlas forAlaskan waters which incorporatedinformation on catches , fishinglocations, and bottom trawling successfor BCF-NMFS exploratory surveys from1948 through the 1970s.

Shr imp explorations

The 1960s was a pivotal time period forlocating and developing new shrimpfishing grounds in Alaska. The JuneauEF&GR Base undertook six trawl surveysto locate potential shrimping groundsfrom Prince William Sound to theeastern Bering Sea. The most importantregions identified for the shrimpingindustry included several areas offKodiak Island, the Alaska Peninsulaand the Shumagin Islands. Theselocations were destined to soon producea peak annual harvest of over 120million lb of shrimp. Theseexploratory surveys were led by WarrenRathjen, Mitsuo Yesaki, and Ronholt.Shrimp gear development work (includingstudies of plumb staff beam trawls forsmall boats , shrimp fish separatortrawls , and high opening shrimp trawls)were led by Yesaki and Larssen.

Extensive EF&GR work was alsoundertaken in locating stocks of prawnsor spot shrimp in southeastern Alaskaand developing effective shrimp pots.From 1965 to 1968, nearly every bay andpassage from Dixon En trance north toGlacier Bay was test fished and smallcommercial fisheries were developed outof Ketchikan , Sitka, and Wrangell.Ronholt and Doyne Kessler weresubstantially involved in this work.

Scallop explorations

In the early 1950s , shellfish surveysby the John N. Cobb , and other work byBCF and the International PacificHalibut Commission , aroused interest inAlaska scallop resources. In 1963,Rathjen led an EF&GR survey aboard theJohn R. Manning in the eastern Gulf ofAlaska near Yakutat Bay for an initialeffort to delineate the extent ofseveral scallop beds. When a downturnin the U. S. East Coast scallop industry

121

occurred in the late 1960s , the JohnManning survey took on renewedimportance. In 1968 and 1969, EF&GRJuneau, in cooperation with the AlaskaDepartment of Fish and Game (ADFG),performed extensive exploratory surveysof scallop stocks from Cape Spencer insoutheast Alaska, around the entire rimof the Gulf of Alaska to Unimak Passand the Aleutian Islands. Gerald Reidand Ronholt led this scallop work.

Personnel Notes , 1960-70

Scientific and technical personnelemployed in the unit , 1960-70, arelisted in a table. Connelley, thefirst person associated with the JuneauEF&GR Base, left the federal governmentin 1961 to work in private industry.

Rathjen left Juneau in 1964 to accept aseries of assignments with the U.N. FAOin Barbados , British West Indies , andother Carribbean locations (1965-69),rej oined NMFS in Gloucester in 1969,and is now associated with fisheriesdevelopmen t on the East Coast.

Benj amin Jones' background in thefishing industry assisted in thedevelopment of new fisheries in regionsin and out of Alaska. In 1968, he wasdetailed to a U. S. State Departmentprogram to investigate the potentialfor developing sustained fisheries innumerous Third World countries inAfrica , Southeast Asia , and SouthAmerica. Jones joined the Juneau EF&GRBase in 1964 and departed in 1970 tojoin the FAO and direct their marinefisheries development program inBrazil. He was involved with SouthAmerican fisheries programs until 1977when he returned to the Center andjoined the RACE Division staff.

Yesaki left the Juneau EF&GR staff in1967 to pursue an extensive career in

122

fisheries development for the FAO.From 1968 to the present , he has beenwith fish and shellfish programs fordeveloping nations around the world,from Central America to Brazil , to theMiddle East, the Indian Ocean , andsouth China Sea.

RESOURCE ASSESSMENT AND CONSERVATIONENGINEERING DIVIS ION, KODIAK LABORATORY

The Center s Kodiak Facility was formedin 1970 when the Juneau EF&GR Base andKetchikan Food Technology Laboratorywere transferred to Kodiak under anAssociate Regional Director forFisheries. This change in locationprovided opportunities for closercontact between these two segments ofBCF (NMFS) fisheries research anddevelopmen t and Alaska' s seafoodindustry. Soon thereafter , the Kodiakfacility formally became part of theNWAFC and the EF&GR Base staff becamepart of the Center s Division of MarineFish and Shellfish (the forerunner ofRACE) . At that time, programs underwaya t Kodiak included Gulf of Alaska andBering Sea groundfish work, Bering Seacrab assessment , and Gulf of Alaskashrimp assessment and gear development.By 1973, efforts were made consolidate various aspects of theCenter s resource assessmentactivities. This consolidationresulted in Kodiak' s groundfish andgear development activities beingtransferred to Seattle and theestablishment of Kodiak as the focalpoint of the Center s shellfishresource assessment mission.

During the 1970s , much of Kodiak'assessment effort concentrated onidentifying the magnitude andgeographic extent of shrimp stocks inthe western Gulf of Alaska. Numerous

surveys during 1970 through 1974occurred from Prince William Sound toCastle Cape on the Alaska Peninsulawith most efforts concentrated aroundKodiak Island. This work was under thedirection of Ronholt and includedsubstantial cooperative efforts withthe ADFG as well as some of theCenter s earliest joint U. -U.scientific investigations.

The time period of the mid 1970s markeda shift in regional effort for shrimpassessment to the Alaska Peninsula andShumagin Islands. Shortly after NMFSshrimp surveys were started in theseregions , an extensive commercialfishery was established. By 1976annual shrimp harvests for the AlaskaPeninsula region approached 80 millioI!.lb--a phenomenal growth in productionof 700% in only 5 years.

Current efforts concerning shrimpassessment focus on surveys in theeastern Aleutian Islands region andtriennial investigations of areas inthe eastern Bering Sea.

Principal participants in the RodiakFacility s early shrimp work includedRonholt, Duane Petersen , and PerryThompson , and more recently it includesPaul Anderson and Franklin Hartsock.

Crab Assessment

Crab stock assessments are the primaryresponsibility of the Kodiak Facility.Since the Facility was establishedannual surveys in the eastern BeringSea have remained the principal sourceof status-of-crab-stocks informationfor the U. S. fishing industry, resourcemanagers, and international fisherynegotiations. These Bering Sea surveysare a current version of surveysoriginally started by the BiologicalLaboratory in Seattle in the 1950s and

continued by the Auke Bay Laboratory inthe 1960s. The Kodiak Facility crabprogram staff has provided significantcontribut ions to the knowledge of kingand snow crab biology and have playedmajor roles , in developing fisherymanagement plans, monitoring harvestsby foreign nationals, and conveyingcurrent and proj ected stock cond itionsto the fishing industry. Thegeographic center for crab assessmentwork continues to lie in thesoutheastern Bering Sea; howeversegments of the work have stretchedinto several other regions of Alaska.Persons extensively involved in thecrab assessment program include or haveincluded Murray Hayes , Jerry Reid, AlanBeardsley, Jerry Reeves , Robert Ot to,Jack McBride, and Richard MacIntosh.

Snail assessment

Another extensive Alaska shellfishresource that is investigated at theKodiak Facility is marine snails. Acommercial fishery by Japan has beenunderway in the eastern Bering Sea andthere continues to exist a substantialpotential for domestic fishery for thisresource. Extensive investigations ofthe magnitude and geographicdistribut ion of several species ofmarine snails was started during theKodiak Facility s involvement withouter continental shelf environmentalstudies in the mid 1970s. MacIntoshhas remained the person primarilyinvolved with assessing snailresources. He has become one of ourcountry s foremost gastropod experts onthe wes t coast.

Personnel Notes, 1970-

Scientific and technical personnelemployed at the Kodiak Facility, 1970-81, are also listed. Several members

123

of the Kodiak Facility staff havedeparted Kodiak but have remained withother segments of the Center. Some ofthose former staff members who are nolonger associated with the Center, buthave remained associated with Alaskaand marine resources include Alan Beardsley--currently a successfulbusinessman , elected Mayor of the Cityof Kodiak, and appointed to the u.Department of Commerce National MarineAffairs Advisory Committee; RobertMeyer--private consultant andowner/operator of several marinerelated businesses in Myers Chuck small community in southeasternAlaska); A. K. Larssen--AssociateEditor for the Fishermen s News ; JerryReid--environmental assessment expertfor the Alaska Regional Office , u. S.

Department of the Interior , U. S. Fishand Wildlife Service; Duane Petersen--Director , Southeast Alaska OfficeEnvironmental Assessment Division, NMFSAlaska Regional Office; and GaleHudkins--Director of the Alaska StateZoo in Anchorage, Alaska. Anotherstaff member , Perry Thompson, leftAlaska and now works at the NMFSSoutheast Fisheries Center.

NORTH PACIFIC EF&GR, 1970-

The exploratory fishing and gearresearch group remained a unit throughthe major reorganizations of the late1960s and early 1970s. It emerged in1975 as the Resource Assessment andConservation Engineering (RACE)Division. Designed to play a primaryrole in the new Marine ResourcesMonitoring Assessment and Prediction(MARMAP) Program, RACE was supplementedwi th groundfish and king crabscientists from the former BiologicalLaboratory and organized to handleMARMAP II--groundfish and shellfish

124

stock surveys and analyses. During theinterim period , 1971-75, the RACE groupwas one of two components of the MarineFish and Shellfish (MFS) Division underthe direction of Fukuhara. When thetwo groups were separated intodivisions in 1975, Fukahara becameDirector of Resource Ecology andFisheries Management Division. Pereyrawas named Director of RACE Division.Greenwood transferred back to Seattlefrom the Office of Fleet Operations(Na tional Ocean Survey, NOAA) to beDeputy Director of RACE Division in1976. The Alaska Region EF&GR Baseincluding the Oregon , moved from Juneauto Kodiak in 1970 and became acomponent of the MFS-RACE activity in1971.

Both the John N Cobb and the Oregonwere incorporated in to the NOAA fleetin 1973 under jurisdiction of theOffice of Fleet Operations , NOS,Rockville, Maryland , through thePacific Marine Center in Seattle.

RACE Division s mission through most ofthis period corresponds to the presentcombination of tasks: 1) ShellfishAssessment Task--located in Kodiak,Alaska, and concentrating on Gulf ofAlaska and Bering Sea crab and shrimpstocks; 2) Groundfish Assessment Task--wi th three subtasks handling groundfishstocks in Bering Sea , Gulf of Alaska,and Pacific coast (off Washington-Oregon-Northern California),respectively; 3) Latent Resources Task--concerned with sablefish assessmentand other groundfish studies;4) Pelagic Resource Assessment Task--responsible for acoustic systemdevelopment and related research andfor acoustic-midwater trawl surveys ofsemi-pelagic species , particularlywalleye pollock and Pacific whiting;5) Conservation Engineering Task--responsible for technical support(sampling gear) of other tasks wi

limited effort in field of fishing gearresearch and development; and6) Foreign Cooperative Research Task--coordinating work of foreign researchvessels wi th U. S. needs throughplanning and observers placed aboardthe foreign vessels.

MUrray Hayes has served as Director ofRACE Division since Pereyra left theCenter in 1977 to enter privateen terpr ise . Jones became DeputyDirector when Greenwood retired in1980.

Special activities during the periodincluded 1) participation in the twoNOAA-sponsored underwater habitatexperimen ts , 2) partic ipa tion in theBering Sea offshore surf clam jointventure investigation, 3) a survey ofBering Sea king crab with RUFAS (RemoteUnderwater Fisheries Assessment System)employing closed circui t television,and 4) a survey of Gulf of Alaskaseamounts to explore commercial fishingpotential.

Alaska Shellfish Assessment

RACE' s Kodiak Laboratory each yearmonitors Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaskaking crab, snow crab , and shrimp stockswith enough precision to allowmanagement agencies to set realisticcatch quotes. The Kodiak Laboratoryhas been led respectively by Hayes,Beardsley, and Wolotira from 1971 todate.

Groundfish Assessment

Surveillance of groundfish wi thin the200-mile fisheries conservation zonefrom off northern California, along thewest coast, through the Gulf of Alaska,and in to the Bering Sea is theresponsibility of the Groundfish

Assessment Task. Miles Alton has ledthe task and its predecessor unit since1973. Since the area is vast andshiptime is limited, the presentpractice is to survey each of threesubareas once every 3 years. Thesubareas are 1) Bering Sea , 2) Gulf ofAlaska, and 3) continental shelf andslope off Washington , Oregon , andnorthern California. Richard BakkalaRonholt, and Thomas Dark, respectively,are responsible for the three subareas.In addition to the triennial surveysvarious smaller scale surveys areconducted annually.

Pelagic Resource Assessment

This Task is responsible for acousticsystem development and related researchstudies. How~ver , its pr imaryresponsibiLity is to conduct acoustic-midwater trawl surveys of walleyepollock (in the Bering Sea and Gulf ofAlaska), Pacific whiting, and othersemi-pelagic species of groundfishparticularly Pacific herring andcertain species of rockfish. The Taskworks directly wi th each of thesubtasks within the GroundfishAssessment Task. During 1974-76 ~heTask developed a van-containedcomputerized acoustic system which isnow r ecogn ized as being un ique in termsof its versatility, ease ofcalibration , history of use , and fishtarget strength (acoustic reflectivity)measurement capabilities. Nelson hasled the Task since it was establishedin 1974.

Conservation Engineering

The fourth RACE task is ConservationEngineering. This task was directedrespectively by McNeely, Greenwood,Jones , and Wathne from 1972 to date.section of the group, which was under

125

Jurkovich , procures and maintainssurvey gear and equipment for the wholedivision. They also design andfabricate special gear according toscientific needs.

Porpoise Mortality

Problems resulting from the tunaindustry s practice of using porpoiseas an indicator for setting huge seinenets on schools of tuna andsubsequently catching porpoise alongwith the fish became a sensitiveenvironmental-ecological issue in theearly 1970s. McNeely, head of the gearresearch unit, had become familiar withthe tuna seine fishery some yearsearlier and was detailed to the NMFSSouthwest Fisheries Center to leadefforts to solve the problem. McNeely,helped intermittently by other basepersonnel including William HighJurkovich , and Daniel Twohig, succeededin implementing changes in net designand operating procedure sufficient toreduce porpoise mortalities tovirtually zero on boats using thesys tem. McNeely received theDepartment of Commerce s highest awardthe Gold Medal , for this achievementand was named the Cetacean SocietyMan of the Year" in 1978.

Research Vessels

Un til the NOAA fleet concept wasimplemented in 1972, the exploratoryfishing-RACE unit was involved withonly three government vessels--JohnCobb Oregon , and John R. ManningMuch of the credit for conceptualthinking and mission accomplishmentmust go to the crews of these vessels.As shown in the accompanying partialcrew lists , many of them servedfaithfully for years. Numerous charterfishing vessels were used over the

126

years, and we regret not having alisting of their names and crews.

Staff, Exploratory Fishing and Gear Research Base

, ,

Juneau , 1960-

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Charles F. Connelley, Jr.. .Base DirectorWarren F. Rathjen.. .Base DirectorBenj amin F. Jones... FM&ES , Base Director

Victor L. Fortin...Lael L. Ronholt.. . , DeputyMitsuo Yesaki.. . FM&ES, FBStephen H. Rogers... FB, BTDoyne W. (Red) Kessler...

K. Larssen.. . FM&ES

Sergei N.Robert J.Gerald M.Robert M.Harold A.

Astrahantseff.. .Wolotira, Jr.. .FM&ES, FBReid.. .Meyer, Jr...(Skip) Zenger, Jr... , FB

Base Director

x = year present61 = Base Director.!. = Deputy Base DirectorFB = Fishery BiologistFM&ES = Fishery Methods andBT = Biological TechnicianFT z Fishery TechnicianCS a Computer Specialist

Equipment Specialist

Beverly Eggan... SecretarySara Anderson.. . Secretary

Crew of fisheries research vesselJohn N. Cobb

1979

MasterFirst OfficerChief EngineerAsst. EngineerLead FishermanSkilled FishermanSkilled FishermanChief Steward

1977

MasterFirst OfficerChief EngineerAsst. EngineerLead FishermanSkilled FishermanSkilled FishermanChief Steward

1972

MasterFirst OfficerChief EngineerAsst. EngineerSkilled FishermanSkilled FishermanSkilled FishermanChief Steward

Thomas DunatorPerry A. BuholmLouis T. RadineArthur R. CooperJonas O. VarnesGeorge W. Grant (Sr.Karl R. GustafsonRobert Blanks

Robert LarsenThomas DunatorLeroy McDonaldArthur R. CooperJonas O. VarnesRobert MennucciLeo N. GornArdan Brezh

Robert LarsenPerry A. BuholmLeroy McDonaldPhillip JohnsonOry HeltonRichard FarrensIvar E. RoeggenJim Geyen

Crew of fisheries vessel Oregon(FRV Oregon transferred to State of South Carolina on 10/20/80

MasterFirst OfficerChief EngineerAsst. EngineerFishermanFishermanFishermanChief Steward

MasterFirst Off ieerChief EngineerAss t. EngineerLead FishermanFishermanFishermanChief Steward

MasterFirst OfficerChief EngineerAsst. EngineerLead FishermanFishermanFishermanChief Steward

1979

Perry A. BuholmWalter E. HamiesterRobert T. HoldenMichael WesneskiClaude PierceMichael GundersonDon Hudson

Dwyane Hunter

1977

Wendell F. SchneiderRobert F. EvelandLouis T. RadineTorval SteenDaniel KulusichFrederick J. BondeJeffrey E. . HansonRobert T. Lyons

1972

Wendell F. SchneiderAllan Z. KomedalLouis T. RadineTorval SteenDaniel KulusichReuel M. FlemingHenry L. TorgramsonArthur W. Ericson

127

Crew of fisheries research vessel John N. Cobb Supporting Exploratory Fishing

and Gear Research Base , Northwest Region , 1950-72 (selected years only)

FRV JOHN N. COBB CREW

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Sheldon W. Johnson.. . Captain-FishermanConrad M. Knutsen.. .Mate-FishermanJose Franco.. .Mate-F , Captain-FRobert P. (Pete) Larsen.. . , Mate-F , Captain-FHans Jangard.. . , Mate-FishermanHugh T. Tiura.. . Chief Engr. -Fisherman

G. (George) Wagner.. . First Asst. Engr. -F.C. (Bud) McDonald... First Asst. Engr. , Chief

James R. Geyen... First Asst. Engr.William L. Morgan.. . Cook-FishermanIvar M. Fjaerestad.. . Cook-FishermanJoseph T. Schleitweiler.. .Master FishermanAdolph S. (Curley) . Peterson.. .Master FishermanKonrad S. Moen.. .Master FishermanGilbert L. Holland.. .Master FishermanEdward H. Edland.. . FishermanArne Laren.. .Master FishermanJoseph Donotov.. .Master Fisherman

E. Roeggen.. .Master FishermanL. Johnson...Master FishermanA. Buholm...Master Fisherman

Engr.

x = Year presenti = Captain-fishermanF = FishermanEngr. = EngineerAsst. Engr. = Assistant Engineer

Crew of fisheries research vessels John R. Manning and Oregon Supporting ExploratoryFish ing and Gear Research Base , Alaska Region , 1963-

FRV JOHN R. MANNING FRV OREGON CREW

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Jewell Pinyon.. . Captain-FWendell F. Schneider.. .Mate-F , Captain-FEarl Bryner.. .Mate-FRuel Fleming.. .Mate-FKen Junge.. .Mate-FAllan Z. Komedal.. .Mate-FAllan Z. Komedal.. . Chief Engr.Phil Johnson... First Asst. Engr.Louis T. Radine... First Asst. Engr. -F, Chief Engr.Torval Steen.. . First Asst. Engr.Clifton Schille.. . Cook-FishermanChet Raymer.. .Master FishermanReg Si~renpiper.. .Master FishermanDeqYs Heggewald.. .Master FishermanArt Ericson.. .Master Fisherman

lDaniel Kulusich.. .Master FishermanIvar M. Fjaerestad.. .Master FishermanHenry Torgramson.. .Master FishermanRue! Fleming.. .Master Fisherman

128

Staff , Resource Assessment and Conservation EngineeringDivision , Kodiak Laboratory, 1971-

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Murray L. Hayes... Laboratory DirectorAlan J. Beardsley.. .Laboratory DirectorRobert J. Wolotira, Jr... FB , Laboratory Director

Phyllis A. Jackson... SecretaryMarilyn Buker... SecretaryRuth W. Kiley... SecretaryG. Gail Hudkins.. . , SecretaryDeborah L. Greuling.. . Secretary

Lael L. Ronholt , FB

Doyne W. (Red) Kessler... Jack McBride.. . , FB

Gerald M. Reid... FB

K. Larssen.. . FM&ES

Auggie Barcot t. . . FM&ESPerry A. Thompson , Jr.. .Harold H. (Skip) Zenger , Jr.. .

Robert M. Meyer , Jr.. .Duane H. Petersen.. .Paul J. Anderson.. . , FB

Richard A. MacIntosh.. . , FB

Franklin B. Hartsock...Jerome E. Reeves.. .Robert S. Otto...John H. Bowerman, Jr.. .Therese M. Armetta.. . , FB

W. (Red) Schaeffer.. .Clerk-Typist/ReceptionistJeanne E. Evans.. . Clerk-Typ is t/ReceptionistDenise A. Oest.. . Clerk-Typist/ReceptionistCarolyn Bollman.. . LibrarianMolly Endicott MacIntosh.. .LibrarianKathleen Beyett.. . Librarian

x xx xx x

J. Eric Munk...Allan K. Fukuyama...Kristin L. Stahl.. ~W. Steven Meyers... , FB

William D. Albers...

Stephan B. Lazarus.. . , CS

William F. Johnson.. .Genise L. Alterman.. .Stephen J. Wilson.. .William P. Osborne.. .

Jack Fredrickson, MaintenanceJ. Wit latch.. .MaintenanceJames E. (Pete) Harris, Maintenance

x = year present9 = Laboratory Director.!. = Assistant Laboratory DirectorFB = Fishery BiologistFM&ES = Fishery Methods and Equipment SpecialistBT = Biological TechnicianCS = Computer Specialist