134 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME, 
CALIFORNIA’S ‘‘BIT.”’ 
By JOHN N. COBB. 
While the commercial fishermen of all the states in the Union have 
been doing their ‘‘bit’’ in trying to replace the much needed meat and 
other food products sent to our allies on and near the fighting line, 
those of California have especially covered themselves with glory in this 
regard as the following comparison of fishery products produced in 1917 
with certain other years plainly shows. 
The United States census of 1908 showed a production by the 
commercial fishermen of California of 47,477,000 pounds, valued at 
$1,970,000. A later investigation of the United States Bureau of 
‘Fisheries showed that in 1915 our commercial fisheries produced 
92,513,457 pounds, valued at $2,488,098, while reports made by the com- 
mercial fishermen to the California Fish and Game Commission for the 
twelve months ending September 30, 1917, and other sources, show that 
1,000,020,428 pounds, valued at $7,697,598, were produced. This latter 
comprised 178,450,472 pounds of edible fish, valued at $5,353,514; 
23,757,782 pounds of other edible fishery products (such as mollusks, 
crustaceans, etc.), valued at $2,138,190, and 797,812,174 pound of non- 
edible products (mostly kelp), valued at $205,894. 
Arranged in tabular form the three years in question show as follows: 
Year Pounds Value 
GOR ye ee BES ees te gE a a tae os ee Ce oe 47,477,000 $1,970,000 00 
LOL a Sa ee a Se oe Se ee eS 92,513,457 2,488,098 00 
oh: bly (upp Ae RRR ates eels ee ee are Pate ee een tae 1,000,020,428 7,697,598 00 
The data given above represents the products as landed by the 
fishermen, and the value is that realized by them. A large number of 
canneries and other plants receive a considerable part of the products so 
landed and prepare them in various ways for shipment and sale 
throughout the world, the value of the products increasing many fold in 
these operations. The enormous amount of kelp gathered in California 
waters and utilized at the immense plants established in the southern 
part of the state since the outbreak of the war, is valued at only about 
$200,000, although when the potash and other chemicals are extracted 
their value runs into millions of dollars. 
As a result of the efforts of our fishermen, California now occupies 
first place, so far as quantity produced is concerned, amongst the various 
states of the Union, Virginia, with 494,959,362 pounds, being a very poor 
second, and is surpassed in value of its fisheries by Alaska, Massa- 
chusetts, and Maine alone, in the order named, with values of 
$8,413,713, $7,992,756 and $7,742,647, respectively. 
The total fishery production cf the United States amounts to about 
3,950,000,000 pounds, valued at approximately $84,500,000, and of this 
enormous production, the greatest by any nation, California produces 
about one-fourth of the quantity and about one-eleventh of the value. 
