PACIFIC COAST: CALIFORNIA. 623 



the bar for several days, iu wbich case tbe fish were liable to spoil. When this happened they 

 were thrown overboard, proving a dead loss to the fishermen. At the present time there are not 

 more than fifteen or twenty men engaged in fishing for flounders during the best of the season. 

 In the winter they bring from 5 to 10 cents a pound. 



Some flounders are caught weighing 10 pounds. It is possible that, owing to the small number 

 now caught, this species will hold its own, but it can never be so abundant as it once was. 



Small numbers of other varieties of flounders, such as Paroplirys and Citharicliilnjs are also 

 caught, but Pleuronectes stellatus is the common flounder of Humboldt Bay. 



The shovel-nosed shark (Notorhynchus maculatun), caught for its oil, was in the early days of 

 Eureka, from 1858 to 18C8, extensively caught in Humboldt Bay. This fish entered the bay at 

 "bulling" season, about the middle of April, and remained until the end of August. At one time 

 fifty or sixty men were engaged in the capture of the fish and the trying out of the oil from its 

 liver. This oil, in the absence of coal (not then discovered), was used largely for illuminating 

 purposes. Much was shipped to San Francisco, where it was used for oiling machinery and adul- 

 terating other oils. In one season a man made 700 gallons of oil, which he sold for the average 

 price of $1.25 a gallon. These sharks are from 6 to 8 feet long and yield from 3 to 8 gallons of oil 

 apiece. The females yield more oil than the males, and females with eggs yield more than at any 

 other season. 



The sharks can only be caught at highest tides, when they are taken with hook and line in the 

 deep channels between the mud-flats, or they may be harpooned in shallow water. The best bait 

 for sharks of this kind is salted seal. Seal meat is full of oil, which spreads out over the water's 

 surface and attracts the shark's attention. They have been seen to follow a narrow streak of oil 

 till they reached the line, when they instantly went down for the bait. It is thought that their 

 sense of smell guides them. 



There is now only one man engaged in this business on Humboklt Bay. He has made only 20 

 gallons this (1880) season. The oil is now worth only 75 cents a gallon and is used by lumber-mill 

 owners around Eureka for lubricatiug-oil. No other sharks are caught here for oil. The species 

 Squah(-s acanthias is absolutely unknown at Eureka, and RMnotriads and Triads, besides being 

 too small, furnish a very poor quality of oil. 



DEL NORTE COUNTY. In Del Norte County, California, there is no sea-fishery of any impor- 

 tance. There is a fall salmon fishery in Smith lliver, which is discussed in the chapter on the west 

 coast salmon fishery. About 500 barrels of salmon are salted. The total annual catch of fish 

 outside of the salmon fisheries does not exceed 3,000 pounds. 



STATISTICAL RECAPITULATION. The fisheries of the foregoing counties are fully detailed in 

 the following table : 



