The striped bass fishery has been a sport fishery since 1931, when 

 the commercial fishery was made illegal. Existing estimates of the size 

 of this fishery in terms of numbers and poundages of striped bass taken 

 have been derived from a postal card survey conducted by the California 

 Division of Fish and Game. That agency has supplied the following esti- 

 mates for inclusion in this report. 



Weight of Bass Taken as 

 Year Number of Bass Taken Based on a l*-Pound Average 



19U3 1,650,000 6,6oo,O00 



19Uh 1,1*20,000 5,680,000 



19U6 1,381,000 5,52l*,ooo 



19U8 1,660,000 6,61*0,000 



The California Division of Fish and Game estimates that approximately 

 225,000 anglers fished a total of 2,250,000 days for striped bass in Cali- 

 fornia in 19u8. 



Poundage figures available from the commercial fishery of the entire 

 Atlantic Coast indicate that approximately 6,100,000 pounds of striped 

 bass were taken in 19U8. This highly valued east coast commercial fishery 

 can be compared with the 19l;8 sport fishery in California waters, amount- 

 ing to more than 6,600,000 oounds, most of which originated in waters of 

 and tributary to the Delta. 



In a recent publication, Calhoun (19li9) analyzed the catches of 

 striped bass reported by party boat operators in Delta waters during the 

 period 1938-19U8. He demonstrates that the striped bass are maintaining 

 their numbers and are providing satisfactory angling in the Delta. A 

 slight decrease in catch per angler since 19U1* is demonstrated in Calhoun 5 s 

 data (p.2l*7); however, this change is attributed to a irinor and natural 

 fluctuation in abundance. 



Shad are taken from Central Valley waters by commercial fishermen 

 almost entirely. A small sport fishery exists on the Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin Rivers, but it is insignificant. The commercial catches of shad 

 are subject to rather violent fluctuations which arise from abundance of 

 the fish and economic conditions. State of California records since 1926 

 show annual catches ranging between the extremes of 113,101 pounds in 

 19Ul and 1*, 103, 1*23 pounds in 1927. The mean annual catch during the 1926- 

 19U8 period is 1,1*60,000 pounds. 



The gravity of the problem of fish protection in the Delta xjas recog- 

 nized by State and Federal fishery agencies as early as 1938, and prelim- 

 inary steps to solve the problem were taken by the State of California in 

 1939. Results of this undertaking are published in two papers: Hatton 

 (19l*0) and Hatton and Clark (19U2). Many conferences were held between 

 personnel of the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, the California Division of 

 Fish and Game, and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service in an attempt to 



