TWENTY-SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT. 



65 



July were to be kept closed Init the eoutiimed use of trammel nets was 

 to be permitted in the district during open seasons, a concession whieh 

 had been granted as a war measure by the United States Food Adminis- 

 tration. That part of the law whicli provided a closed season of .J\nie 

 and July in District 12b was later attacked by counsel for the fislier- 

 men who claimed that the section of the Penal Code which deseril)es 

 the kinds of nets which may be used, permitted the use of gill nets 

 of certain mesh in the district during June and July. Tlie ease was 

 finally decided in favor of the fishermen. Judge ^Icdvenzie of tlie 

 superior court of Contra Costa County deciding that laws restricting 

 the right to fish must be clear and without ambiguity. The linal 

 result was that salmon were getting less protection than ever. 



Fig. 2 0. State Fisheries Laboratory, East San Pedro, California. It is here that 

 important research work on tlie commercial fisheries is being carried on by a 

 staff of scientists. Photograph by W. F. Thompson. 



At our request a bill was introduced at the liJ21 session of the 

 legislature which proposed to give the Sacramento salmon a fair meas- 

 ure of protection. It provided that salmon netting be eliminated in 

 the river above the city of Sacramento; that the months of June and 

 July be closed to conform to the season already provided for striped 

 bass and shad; and that the fall season be closed on September ir)th 

 instead of the 25th. Closed seasons were also provided to curtail the 

 catch of salmon in sea trolling. The measures finally adoi)ted were 

 inadequate. Fishing in the upper Sacramento continues; the months 

 of June and July are still open and the closed seasons adopted for the 

 outside trolling districts were cut down so as to give but little |>nitir 

 tion. The only salmon measure of importance adopted was closing the 

 fall season on September 17th, eight days earlier than before. 



Since that time the salmon catch in ]\Ionterey T>ay and in the San 

 Francisco and Sacramento River regions has decreased most alarm- 

 ingly, so that most of our fishermen and fish dealers are now agreed 

 tha{ something must be done if we are to save the salmon. Tlie 



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