382 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



B— SACRAMENTO EIVEE. 



After leaving Clear Lake, I went to the Sacramento River to procure a 

 collection of the fish caught at this season, (February.) 



At Rio Vista and other points, I gathered the following fragmentary 

 notes, which I present here as supplementary to my report on the fish 

 of the Sacramento River for 1872. 



1. — CHARACTER OF FISHING- ON THE SACRAMENTO. 



The fishing on the Sacramento River is done in three ways : 1. By 

 drift-nets ; 2. By fyke-nets ; 3. By sweep-seines. 



Drift-nets. — The drift-nets are used exclusively for catching salmon. 

 They have an 8^-inch mesh, are usually 40 meshes deep, and from 150 

 to 200 fathoms long. As nearly as I could learn, there were not far 

 from a hundred salmon-nets in operation on the Sacramento River in 

 1872. At the meeting of the salmon-fishermen of the Sacramento that 

 year, there were ninety-five boats represented. 



These nets are worked by simply drifting them with the tide. The 

 salmon, which, of course, are heading against the tide, are gilled in the 

 meshes. The turn of the tide is the most favorable time for this sort 

 of fishing. 



The nets are frequently drifted a mile before being hauled in. The 

 salmon-fishing is conducted entirely by white men ; no Chinamen being 

 allowed to participate in it. There is no law regulating the matterj 

 but public opinion is so strong in relation to it, and there is such a prej- 

 udice against the Chinese, that any attempt, on their part, to engage 

 in salmon-fishing would meet with a summary and probably fatal 

 retaliation. 



The number of fresh salmon shipped from Rio Vista to San Francisco 

 in the year 1872 is as follows : 



January 792 



February 1, 581 



March 1,945 



April 3, 354 



May 4, 408 



June 1, 201 



July 1,145 



August 1, 496 



September 2, 335 



October 583 



November 441 



December 390 



On one day in February, when I came down the Sacramento, there 

 were put on board the steamer, at Courtland, 7 fresh salmon ; at Rio 

 Vista, 32 fresh salmon ; at Sherman Island, 32 fresh salmon ; at Collins- 

 ville, 123 fresh salmon. 



The number of fresh fish (salmon and sturgeon) brought down the 

 Sacramento River to San Francisco in 1872, by the steamers for the 

 Central Pacific Railroad Company, is as follows : 



