Fish and Fishermen 227 



that while in the early twenties the catch had been composed 

 mostly of ten-year-old fish, in later years it was made up 

 largely of three- and four-year-olds. They caught sardines at 

 sea, made incisions in their bellies, and inserted numbered 

 metal tags. Some of the fish died as a result and some of the 

 tags came out, but enough remained in and were recov- 

 ered from recaptured fish by electro-magnets in the cannery 

 processing lines to give information on the migrations of 

 the species and on the rate at which the industry was remov- 

 ing its stock in trade. The biologists also found that there 

 were large year-classes and small year-classes — that in some 

 years, due to natural conditions which have not yet been 

 identified, spawning was phenomenally successful, and enor- 

 mous numbers of young fish began to grow up on their 

 way to the cannery; while in other years spawning was poor 

 and the young were few. 



All this time the biologists were issuing words of warn- 

 ing which, as the catch continued to rise, went unheeded. 

 But 1937, with its eight hundred thousand tons, was the 

 peak. The curve turned down; in the 1947- 1948 season the 

 catch did little more than equal the one hundred thousand 

 tons taken in 1920. And, while one hundred thousand tons 

 was highly satisfactory then, it is not sufficient to satisfy the 

 greatly increased numbers of men, fishing craft, and plants 

 existing in 1948. The call for help has gone out. Because the 

 investigations were begun years before they were asked for, 

 the material for help is at hand; otherwise, it would take 

 years to assemble. The trouble is believed to be a combina- 

 tion of over-fishing and a succession of poor year-classes. 

 Poor catches will discourage fishing and thus relieve the 

 over-fishing; nature will sooner or later produce a good year- 

 class; and the sardine fishery can probably stabilize at some- 

 thing less than half of its peak. This will mean fewer 

 canneries and fewer fishermen, but with a stable living, as 



