94 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



luoi'e seawui'lliy ;nul have belter acconi- 

 lacKlations for llio crew. 'L'hey hav(> 

 rooai to clean and ice the fisli at sea 

 and on that account can make a hinder 

 trip. An otter trawl of a size sufiicient 

 to do the work of one of the san 

 Francisco pai-anzella outfits could l)e 

 operated at two-thirds the expense. 



"California will never be the home 

 of a great trawling industry, for the 

 ti-awl fishing grounds are too limited. 

 On account of the rapid deepening of 

 the ocean floor to the west of the con- 

 tinent, the bottom suitable for trawling- 

 is a very narrow strip. This strip ex- 

 tends from Point Concepcion to our 

 northern boundary, but only in two or 

 three places will it exceed five miles in 

 width and most of it is one to three 

 miles wide. Otter trawLs from San 

 Francisco conld fish this entire distance 

 if the market would take the fish. The 

 three San Francisco paranzella outfits 

 and the four smaller outfits at Santa 

 Cruz, with their comparatively primi- 

 tive methods, can for the most of the 

 year easily over-supply the market. By 

 adopting the improved methods of han- 

 dling fish, in use elsewhere, interior 

 mai-kets could be reached. But our 

 people are not fish eaters and unless 

 the public takes more kindly to a fish 

 diet, our trawling grounds will be 

 sufficient for many years to come, as in 

 the past forty years they have been 

 only scratched in two or three places." 



THE GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF 

 FISHERIES. 



Some apprehension has been felt in 

 regard to the announcement issued from 

 Washington that the government was to 

 take over the control of the fisheries and 

 remove fishing restrictions. On February 

 10, the United States Food Adminis- 

 trator for California issued the following : 



"San Francisco, Feb. 10, 1918. — 

 Attention of salt water fishermen 

 throughout California was called today 

 to the following statement issued by 

 the United States Food Administration 

 at Washington warning fishermen re- 

 garding procuring of licenses to do 

 business : 



"Under a recent proclamation of the 

 President, the second issued by him on 

 control of the fish industry, salt water 

 fishermen, generally, must be licensed 

 by the Food Administration. By the 

 first proclamation, effective November 

 1, 1917, it was made compulsory for all 

 wholesale fish distributoi's, brokers and 

 commission men to secure licenses; but 

 those catching fish were not included 

 unless they were also in one of the 

 classes named. By the new proclama- 

 tion of January 10, 1918. 'all salt 

 water fishermen, whether fishing inde- 

 pendently or on shares,' must secure 

 licenses if 'engaged at any perioa ot 

 the year in the commercial distribution 



including calching or selling, of any or 

 nil varieties of salt water fish, includ- 

 ing menliiidcn. and of shellfish and 

 crustaceans." 



■"Tlie.se licenses must be .secured on 

 or before February 15, 1918, and are 

 issued without charge or fee of any 

 kind. The term 'salt water fishermen' 

 includes all (except those employea tor 

 wages only, without a share in the 

 proceeds) who are engaged in catching 

 salt water fish or producing any other 

 kind of sea food, including lobsters, 

 crabs, shrimps, oysters, clams, ecc. 

 Also any person, firm, corporation or 

 association engaged in production 

 and employing any such fi^sherman or 

 producer of sea food, whether for wages 

 or on shares or both, must take out a 

 license. These licenses can be secured 

 from the Licensing Division of the 

 Food Administration at Washington. 



"This license system, as applied to 

 the fisherman, is wholly for their 

 benefit, not to affect their prices, not 

 to limit their operations, but to extend 

 them and to remove local restrictions 

 that now prevent free and full develop- 

 ment of sea-food production. 



"The Food Administration does not 

 intend to regulate the prices of fish and 

 sea foods in the fishing districts ; and 

 distribution and prices, so far as fish- 

 ermen and producers are concerned, will 

 move along natural lines as before. 



"By assuming this more direct con- 

 trol of salt water fishermen, tlie Food 

 Administration will be able, Wuere 

 necessary, to supersede state laws and 

 local restrictions by general regulations 

 which will allow increased opportunity 

 to fishermen and broaden their ojiera- 

 tions during the war. These local re- 

 strictions have discouraged fishermen, 

 lessened their catches and limited the 

 use of their most productive gear ; non- 

 residents and aliens have been pre- 

 vented from fishing in waters of cer- 

 tain states ; closed seasons have been 

 enforced on certain varieties of fish 

 during their period of greatest abun- 

 dance, and restrictions upon the use of 

 purse seines have prevented utilization 

 of this effective gear within the three 

 mile limit. These and other restrictions 

 on fishing have curtailed production 

 and brought about a shortage in sup- 

 plies of salt water fish when we need 

 sea food more than ever before. These 

 restrictions will be removed or modified 

 under the new regulations, and this 

 greater freedom for fishermen, with 

 other measures for the benefit of the 

 fish industry, should largely increase 

 the supply of sea food by spring of 

 1918. 



"At the same time, due regai-d will 

 lie paid by the Food Administration to 

 any present restrictions that are vitally 

 necessary to protect the fish supply of 

 the future, and to prevent extinction 

 or too great reduction in the number of 

 any species valuable for food." 



