CALIFORNIA PISH AND GAME. O 



conserve the fisheries resources of San Francisco Bay and rivers, on the 

 one hand, and the interested defenders of the Chinese, on the other. 

 Closed seasons were finally resorted to and the drying of shrimps was 

 prohibited, without greatly reducing the destruction of young fish. At 

 the 1910-1911 session of the legislature the use of Chinese shrimp nets 

 was prohibited entirely. The shrimps had been so reduced in numbers 

 that it was found unprofitable to catch them by the method formerly 

 employed by the Italians. It was also found to be unprofitable to 

 employ the shrimp trawl which was in successful use on Puget Sound. 

 In 1915 the legislature removed the restriction against the Chinese net 

 in Soutli San Francisco Bay on the ground that in that part of the bay 

 the destruction to young fish was much less than in the upper bay and 

 for the further reason that in that part of the bay the kinds of fish 

 destroyed did not include the young of herring, smelt, shad and striped 

 bass as was the case in the upper bay. At the 1916-1917 session of the 



Vig. 1. Chinese shrimp fishing junk on San Francisco Bay. Photograph by H. B. Nidever. 



legislature a very strong effort was made to reestablish the fishery in 

 the upper bay by those who would be benefited in the way of rents, 

 selling of supplies, etc., and by those who would have the picturesque 

 industry for sentimental reasons. As this effort is sure to be resumed 

 at the 1918-1919 session it is believed an intimate description of the 

 industry as it existed up to the year 1910 will be of interest, especially 

 as the Chinese now operating in South San Francisco Bay are using 

 identically the same methods, with the single exception that they do not 

 catch so many young fish in that part of the bay and the young fish 

 caught are not of the more valuable species. 



Camps: The fishing has been carried on by Avhat has been termed 

 "camps." Each of these camps is a separate unit, which has its own 

 boat, wharf, boiling vat and drying ground, separate living quarters 

 and storehouses. Although one Chinese compan^y may have owned 

 or controlled several camps, even side by side at the water's edge, they 



