CXL REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



ments were continued for seven days in June. During that time the traps 

 were set once or twice daily in water from 18 to 125 feet deep, on rocky 

 and sandy bottoms, at distances from the shore varying from 100 feet 

 to 1^ miles. The ground covered was from one-half mile off Pacific Grove 

 to the Hotel Del Monte wharf. The conditions seemed favorable for 

 the existence of lobsters, the bottom consisting of rocky ledges, loose 

 rocky patches, and hard sand, with giant kelp and other vegetation. 

 Sometimes the traps were left down 24 hours; sometimes they were lifted 

 in 7 to 12 hours. The results, so far as lobsters were concerned, were 

 entirely negative. Sometimes the traps were empty, with bait unmo- 

 lested; sometimes the bait would be taken, with no clew to the animal 

 removing it; but generally the traps contained starfish, rock-crabs, and 

 spider-crabs, often in large numbers. On one occasion a trap was com- 

 I)letely filled by an octopus, which had insinuated its body between the 

 slats and whose arms projected from the sides of the trap. 



As much time was given to the experiment as could then be properly 

 devoted to it, but the trials should be continued with more traps and 

 in other parts of the bay before the absence of lobsters is conceded. Ko 

 evidence of the i)resence or absence of lobsters in the region may be 

 expected of the fishermen, as they set no apparatus in which a lobster 

 is apt to be caught. 



Several other reports of the capture of lobsters in Monterey Bay have 

 been made to the writer. Mr. E. Duarte, a fish-dealer of Monterey, states 

 that about January, 1896, while in the Chinese village near Monterey, he 

 saw a large lobster that a Chinese fisherman had snagged on a trawl line. 

 He engaged to take it for 25 cents, but during a short absence the China^ 

 man became susijicious that it was unlawful to sell it and made away 

 with it. It weighed between 5 and 7 pounds, and Mr. Duarte is con- 

 fident it was an eastern lobster. No spiny lobsters are caught here. 

 Mr. James McMann, superintendent of a fish-cannery at San Pedro 

 and formerly of Maine, states that in 1893 he saw a lobster at Monterey 

 that he is confident was a genuine eastern lobster; it was 6 inches long. 



Inquiries relative to the lobsters planted otf the Oregon and Wash- 

 ington coasts elicited only negative information. 



In July, 1896, the Canadian Fisberies Department had a consign- 

 ment of eastern lobsters planted on the coast of British Columbia. 

 The shipment was in charge of Mr. C. A. Stayner, inspector of lobster 

 fisheries, and consisted of 600 adults and 2,000,000 eggs; some of the 

 lobsters weighed 10 pounds. All but 106 died in transit; the survivors 

 were deposited in deep water at Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, on the 

 Strait of Georgia, the eggs being planted near Vancouver, on the 

 mainland. Mr. Stayner reports that about September 1 a lobster was 

 caught at Victoria and fully identified. Victoria is on Fuca Strait, on 

 the southern side of Vancouver Island, and about 80 miles from ISTanaimo. 

 The opinion of the local government fishery inspector is that the lobster 

 was a representative of plants made by this Commission in Puget Sound 

 in 1889, but the matter can not be definitely decided. 



