CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 
delivery. This tabulation and analysis 
of the average boat catch, including the 
records of some 110 boats, is in course 
of completion. Careful consideration, 
however, has been given such artificial 
factors as market or labor conditions in 
arriving at a conclusion as to the daily 
abundance of the species and an effort 
has been made to take them into account. 
The character of the season’s run has 
been studied by taking a twenty-pound 
sample of the fish from the individual 
boat loads day by day at the time of 
unloading at the canneries, together with 
data on the locality and time of the catch. 
To date, 182 such samples have been taken 
from boats unloading at seven canneries 
in San Pedro and Wilmington, and from 
them the average weight, average length 
of the fish in each boat load, the size or 
age groups represented, sex and degree 
of sexual maturity, were determined. 
From these samples about 5000 individual 
fish have been specially measured and 
sexed. And from these data the spawning 
habits, the class of fish taken, and the 
variation in the catch have been studied. 
The degree of mixing of age or size groups, 
or the degree of uniformity of size in 
different schools is also being investigated. 
The measurements of the large series 
of fish above mentioned, in addition to 
indicating the character of the run, have 
been tabulated to show the frequency with 
which fish of each length occur. This 
tabulation of length-frequency is the oldest 
reliable method of determining the age of 
fishes (see California Fish and Game, 
Vol. 5, No. 2, p. 538), and the curves or 
graphs prepared from our figures give 
undoubted indications of the ages of the 
various sizes of commercial importance. 
The study of the maturity and spawning 
habits of the sardine at San Pedro was 
begun two years ago when Mr. Thompson 
and assistants made series of examinations 
of the condition of the roe during the 
spring of 1918 and 1919. he results of 
these observations were published in this 
magazine in July 1919.* The same ob- 
servations were repeated during the past 
spring season by the writer and in addi- 
tion to the records of spent and relatively 
mature fish, the roe of about 140 fish 
was preserved at weekly intervals and 
deposited in the laboratory collections for 
*California Fish and Game, 
INOS ce Dino, uly holo. 
Vol 0; 
181 
future microscopical study. The records 
of the maturity obtained while measuring 
the large series of fish mentioned above 
have also been tabulated and curves drawn 
to show both the relative numbers of 
immature, relatively mature, and spent 
fish present in each size group, and also 
the per cent of mature fish at each length. 
The same series of measurements has 
been studied to determine the relative 
numbers and sizes of the two sexes, in 
regard to possible selective migrations, 
relative mortality, and differences in rate 
of growth. EEE: 
THE SARDINE PROBLEM IN THE 
MONTEREY BAY DISTRICT. 
That the Monterey sardine fishery has 
increased in volume to eight times that 
of three years ago is evidence enough 
that the possibility of depletion can not 
be much longer ignored. The value of the 
present annual pack, about five and half 
million dollars, warrants the concentra- 
tion of attention on this problem. Con- 
sequently, in the summer of 1919 the work 
was commenced. 
The investigation was begun November 
12, 1919, and was carried on energetically 
to the end of the season in March, 1920. 
The work was necessarily of the nature 
of a preliminary survey and involved 
the taking of extensive daily records of the 
various aspects of the daily commercial 
catch. Samples from about six boat loads 
were taken daily as the fish were un- 
loaded at the canneries. . An average 
weight of sardines in the respective catches 
was ascertained by the weight and count 
of the fish in these representative samples, 
the locality of the catch was obtained in 
most cases by a personal interview with 
each fisherman, and a number of fish were 
reserved from each sample for further 
examination. This remaining work was 
done at Hopkins Marine Station, where 
the Fish and Game Commission was 
courteously granted the use of quarters 
and facilities. This made possible the 
taking of accurate measurements of the 
sardines and a dissection for the purposes 
of determining sex and the development of 
spawn in the fish. During the season 545 
samples were taken, 7534 fish were 
measured and sexed, and about 200 ovaries 
were preserved for study of the egg de- 
velopment. 
A partial analysis of this data shows 
