| Summary: | SEATTLE HARBOR PROVIDES OUTLET : Yearly Business Estimated Near $4,000,000. SEATTLE HARBOR PROVIDES OUTLET Yearly Business Estimated Near $4,000,000 States for conservation measures. SEATTLE, March 13 (AP)- Three hundred broad-beamed little power boats-"the most uncomfortable boats in the world"-built to carry fish and ice, lay off the north Pacific halibut banks today ready to cast off fishing gear at midnight tomorrow at the opening of the fishing season. And whoever laid out the fishing grounds the picturesque fleet visits each year didn't pick them out for comfort, either. Banks in Storm Area The banks, extending from Cape Flattery, Wash., to the Aleutian islands, are in the noted "cradle of the storms" belt, where the seas roll free all the way from Siberia, and the 1500 fishermen spend most of their time in oilskins balanced on decks that buck and kick. About 175 halibut vessels operate from Seattle, the largest halibut port, where half the world's catch is sold. Fifty vessels operate from British Columbia ports and 75 from Alaska. No small business is north Pacific halibut fishing. Manager Harold Lokken of the fishing vessels owners' association estimated a $4,000,000-a-year business. "Fishermen sign on the vessels as partners. The boat gets 20 per cent of the catch, expenses are deducted and the remainder is equally divided among the crew members and the captain," Lokken said. The fishermen average about $1500 a season. Deep Water Fished "Halibut range from six to 250 pounds in weight. They swim in schools close to the bottom of the sea. Weighted hooks, baited with herring, are used. The schooners go as far as 100 miles offshore during their cruises and fish in water as deep as 1800 feet. Each boat carries from six to 40 'skates' of gear, each with 135 hooks," he said. Lokken said several of the boats would race back to Seattle from the Cape Flattery banks about March 20 to get the season's usually opening high halibut price. Halibut sold at an average of 10 cents a pound last year. The catch totaled 22,284,230 pounds, valued at $1,970,221. The season will end when the combined catch of the American and Canadian fleets totals 46,000,000 pounds—a figure agreed to between Canada and the United States for conservation measures.
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