THIRTY-FIKST BIENNIAL REPORT 13 



Following is a brief summary of the work of the division by bureaus : 



LICENSE SALES 



Licenses have continued to be distributed throup'h the county clerks 

 of those counties where the work can be effectively handled by this 

 method. In other counties, licenses are distributed directly to the 

 dealers from the offices of the division. It is believed that a uniform 

 system of license distribution should be worked out which will apply 

 throujjhout the state. It is probable that some chancres in existing 

 legislation will be necessary to work this out satisfactorily. 



During the calendar year ending December 31, 1928, 228,696 hunt- 

 ing licenses were sold, yielding a revenue of $466,145, and during the 

 calendar year ending December 31, 1929, 241.447 hunting licenses were 

 sold, yielding a revenue of $488,114. During this same two years the 

 number of angling licen.ses sold were 216,738 and 229,374, yielding a 

 revenue of $443,660 and $469,442, respectively. 



The deer tags sold in 1928 and 1929 totaled 105.638 and 115,472, 

 yielding a revenue of an equal number of dollars. 



The other principal sources of income were the sale of market fisher- 

 men 's licenses, amounting to $31,320 and $30,970, for the fiscal years 

 ending in 1929 and 1930; the fish packer's tax of 50 cents per ton, 

 amounting to $175,805 during the same period, and court fines for fi.sh 

 and game law violations, amounting to $171,652.68. 



The total income from all sources for the eightieth fiscal year 

 amounted to $1,402,317.38, with total expenditures of $1,052,938.37; 

 and (luring the eightv-first fiscal vear the total revenue amounted to 

 $1,431,733.21, with total expenditures of $1,299,906.87. 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES 



There was a nota])le increase in tlie amount of fish and shellfish 

 caught and landed in the state during the past two years. This increase 

 amounted to 62 per cent over the receipts during the previous two-year 

 period. The sardine fishery continued to be the largest and most 

 important in the state, over 1,072,000,000 pounds being landed in the 

 past two years, which represented an increase of 70.4 per cent over the 

 preceding period. 



The increase in the importance of mackerel as a canned fish has been 

 very marked. In 1928 mackerel jumped from tenth place in impor- 

 tance among our fisheries to second place. A total catch of less than 

 5,000,000 pounds in 1927 was increased to 35,000,000 in 1929. 



The product of the fish packing plants, together with the value of 

 the fresh fish disposed of, amounts to between thirty and forty miUion 

 dollars annuallj". 



While the increased catch has been notable, the increase has not been 

 in proportion to the increase in effort and the improvement of fishing 

 gear. The decreasing ratio between the tonnage of fish received and 

 the effort expended to secure it, sounds a note of warning which must 

 be considered carefully in plans to perpetuate our important commer- 

 cial fishing industry. 



In accordance with a resolution adopted during the last session of 

 the legislature, and in accordance with a long standing practice of this 

 division, contacts have been maintained with fishery officials of Oregon, 



