REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY 



George P. Miller 



The impact of the war on the Division of Fish and Game strnck as 

 it did all types of American life with the rapidity that for the moment 

 disrupted its orderly functioning. 



The day after Pearl Harbor, the Division of Pish and Game was 

 called upon by the Twelfth Naval District Headquarters and the Sheriff 

 of Contra Costa County to lend its aid in guarding vital bridges in the 

 Bay area. The division responded immediately and for approximately 

 three months successfully guarded one or more of these structures. We 

 were particularly entrusted with guarding the Southern Pacific Car- 

 quinez Bridge from the waterside. 



Because of their training in police work, great demands were made 

 upon the services of our law enforcement personnel by the Federal Bureau 

 of Investigation, Naval Intelligence and other groups in the internal 

 security of California, and in ferreting out draft dodgers and enemy 

 aliens. 



A Defense Advisory Committee was set up under the Chairmanship 

 of Commissioner Edwin L. Carty who made an independent investigation 

 of coastal security and worked in conjunction with other public and 

 quasi-public agencies charged with internal security. 



Immediately upon the outbreak of the war, steps were taken to insure 

 the free flow of commercial fish through the ports of California, the com- 

 mission modifying its rules and regulations to meet the emergency con- 

 ditions brought about by the war effort. One of the phases of this 

 problem directly affecting the sardine fishery was the hermetically seal- 

 ing of the ports of San Francisco and San Pedro by the Navy. In 

 February, 1942, Commissioner Carty and the Executive Secretary made 

 a trip to Washington, D. C. for the purpose of laying the problem before 

 high ranking naval authorities. Working in conjunction with Mr. Jeff 

 Kibre of the International Fishermen and Allied Workers Union of 

 America, we were successful in our mission and as a result of it, a series 

 of conferences were initiated by the Commandants of the Twelfth and 

 Eleventh Naval Districts that resulted in allowing the fishing fleets to 

 proceed to sea. 



One of the vexatious problems that heretofore confronted the com- 

 mission was the matter of issuance of permits to take birds, their nests 

 and eggs, and mammals for scientific purposes. Unquestionably there 

 had been an abuse of the privileges granted individuals for the purpose 

 of the advancement of scientific knowledge. Commissioner Germain 

 Buleke was appointed chairman of a special committee consisting of 

 representatives of the scientific institutions in California to study and 

 suggest a new method of issuing permits. As a result of the work of 

 this committee, all of the then-existing permits were rescinded and a 

 system Avas devised whereby designated scientists would pass upon the 



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