Holder. — Protection at Santa Catalina 113 



an effect upon them that they were absolutely driven 

 away and for the last ten years there were less tunas 

 caught than in a single month ten or fifteen years ago. 

 In fact, the leaping tuna industry, attracting thousands 

 of dollars to the Pacific coast in the form of anglers from 

 all over the world, was absolutely ruined, and during the 

 present season of 1914, the first leaping tuna of over one 

 hundred pounds has been seen in years and but one 

 caught. 



Such was the situation in 1913, when I determined to 

 literally take the question to the country and if possible 

 induce the legislators to do something. I made a report 

 giving full particulars of the situation at Santa Catalina 

 Island showing the deadly decrease of the fisheries and 

 its relation to sport, the market man, and the State in 

 general. This was read to a Fish Protective Association 

 which had been formed as a sort of an organization 

 through which to work on the legislature. Finally, with 

 the assistance of many interested men, our bill was in- 

 troduced, calling for the protection of the fisheries of 

 Santa Catalina Island, on the grounds that it was, in the 

 opinion of Dr. David Starr Jordan and many other ex- 

 perts, the spawning ground, and asking that region with- 

 in three miles off shore should be called a spawning 

 ground and that all net fishing should be prohibited with- 

 in that region. It was specifically allowed in the bill, 

 that any one could fish with a hand-line. This was done 

 because at that time the Japanese were catching all their 

 albacore, which are canned as tuna, in this way. There 

 was, by any stretch of the imagination, no class legisla- 

 tion in this, as everybody was served exactly alike; even 

 the men whose fishing depended on netting for bait were 

 prohibited. In a word, all netting was stopped within 

 three miles of the shore, yet all the market fishermen and 

 all the anglers could fish within this region with either 

 the hand-line or rod and reel. This bill, then, did not 

 interfere with the men who caught albacore and canned 

 them, now one of the most important industries on the 

 coast, nor did it interfere with the angler, who was said 



