G8 



CAIylKOHNIA FISTI AND GAME. 



soutli. Size and i'atiio.ss count for nnicli in smoked and salted liei'rings 

 and it is not likely that California will be able to do iiiueli in these lines 

 on account of the small size of the fish. 



It is customary to gTad(> herring" into four (dasses according to size. 

 The largest, or number one, brings the l)est price. The majority of fivsh 

 from Tomales Bay will fall into grades two, three and four, while those 

 of San Francisco Bay will fall into grades three and four. 



During the present season an expert of the Bureau of Fisheries super- 

 vised the packing of fifty barrels of herring on Tomales Bay after the 

 Scotch style and it is expected that a good pack of Scotch cured herring 

 will be put up on that bay next year. 



In 1917 herring were canned for the first time in this state and for the 

 first time fishing operations were conducted on a scale large enough to 



Fig. 46. Transporting herring from Tiburon to the cannery at Pittsburg, January, 1918. 

 Photograph by N. B. Scofield. 



test the capacity of the fishery. There were taken in Tomales and San 

 Francisco bays more than six million pounds of fish and it is estimated 

 that these two bays can produce double that amount without overtaxing 

 the supply. The size of the California herring makes it better for can- 

 ning than for curing and we can look for the greater development along 

 the canning line. 



The methods of fishing, as in most of the other sea fisheries of Cali- 

 fornia, are inadequate and can be improved greatly. On Tomales Bay 

 small gill nets and beach nets are used and good catches can not be made 

 until the fish have come into the shallow water to spawn, at which time 

 they are less fat than wdien the roe and milt is not so fully developed. 

 The herring enter and remain in the deeper part of the bay at least a 

 month before they come inshore to be caught by the nets now in use. 

 The fishermen realize this and are prepared to use purse nets and larger 

 boats next year. 



On San Francisco Bay the fishing methods are slightly better, but the 

 introduction of purse nets or good-sized Lompara nets, would ena1)le 

 the fishermen to catch the fish before they are actually spawning. 



The herring canning operations are so far being carried on at Pitts- 

 burg, at the junction of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. Here 

 canneries originally fitted for canning salmon and shad are being 

 utilized and the fish are shipped to this point by boat from Sausalito and 

 Tiburon. The herring from Tomales Bay make the fie^ stage of their 



