TRANSMISSION OF SALMON EGGS TO AUSTRALIA, ETC. 895 

 ILLEGAL FISHING. 



17. There is a prevalent opinion throughout the States that it is the 

 especial duty of the fish commissioners to act as local police in each 

 neighborhood and prevent violations of the law in relation to fishing 

 during the close season. Much time is consumed in answering questions 

 on this subject and informing correspondents by letter that it is the duty 

 of every citizen to see that the law is obeyed. We believe the law which 

 prohibits the catching or having in possession salmon from 1st August 

 to 1st November has been more extensively violated during the present 

 year than ever before. It is true the fish are not sold openly in the city 

 markets, but we are informed that the fishermen have erected salting 

 establishments and smoke-houses in various by-places in the sloughs 

 between the Sacramento and San Joaquin, where the work of salting 

 and smoking has been prosecuted more extensively than in any previous 

 year. We learned that the canning establishment of Messrs. Emersen 

 Corville & Co., at Collinsville, only made a pretense of ceasing work on 

 the 1st of August, and that they secretly persisted in violating the law. 

 We caused them to be arrested and fined, upon which they quit work 

 and promised hereafter to obey the law. The canning establishment 

 near Sacramento was also reported as at work during the close season. 

 The proprietors have been indicted by the grand jury of Sacramento, and 

 will be fined, if found guilty, during the next term of court. It is well 

 known that salmon, during the spawning season, are unfit for food. The 

 fish canned, salted, or smoked at this period, if consumed or sold, will 

 have the efi'ect of giving the Sacramento salmon a bad reputation in the 

 market. For this reason the "canners" on the Columbia Eiver cease 

 work on the 1st of August in their own interest and without any re- 

 quirement of law. It is useless for the State to hatch fish and turn them 

 into the river if there is no time in the year when they are permitted to 

 reach their spawning grounds for purposes of reproduction. It would 

 seem that when the State expends money in filling the river with valua- 

 ble fish for the benefit of the public, and especially for the benefit of fish- 

 ermen, that there should be sufficient intelligence and public spirit 

 among local officers and the fishermen themselves to see the law obeyed 

 and give the fish an opportunity to keep up the supply. If the commis- 

 sioners are to expend the appropriation in prosecuting violations of the 

 law, there will be no money to pay for the hatching of additional fish. 

 Many of the fishermen acknowledge the justice and ultimate benefit of 

 an observance of the law and obey it, but very i^roperly complain that 

 their work ceases, while those who violate it reap a greater benefit. 



18. The following extracts from a letter received by the commissioners 

 from a, fisherman who has followed the business of catching salmon on 

 the Sacramento and San Joaquin for the San Francisco market during 

 twenty years will illustrate that, at least, the more intelligent and 

 thoughtful of these men acknowledge the necessity of an observance of 



