54 REPORT OF THE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



REPORT OF DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCIAL FISHERIES. 



The Honorable Board of Fish and Game Commissioners of the State of 

 California. 



Sirs: The growth of California's fisheries in the past few years has 

 been rapid and spectacular. So very recent has been this growth that 

 few in this state realize that we have gained first place in the list of 

 states both in the quantity and value of our fishery products. In 1919 

 California produced over 250,000,000 pounds of fish and about 8,000,000 

 pounds of shell fish. These fish had a wholesale value as fresh fish and 

 manufactured products of over $25,000,000. 



If this great industry is to be fostered and the exhaustion of any 

 of the varieties of fish upon which it depends guarded against, and 

 if at the same time the fishery resources of the state are to be ade- 

 quately utilized and the industry expanded along proper lines, it is 

 necessary to carry on a great deal of investigation work and to get 

 intelligent legislation and to see that the conservation laws are enforced. 

 The state, which has sole jurisdiction over its fisheries and is alone 

 responsible for their protection, has charged the Fish and Game Com- 

 mission with this conservation work. As the state laws defining the 

 duty of the Fish and Game Commission in regard to fisheries investi- 

 gation work were not very definite, the Legislature of 1919 passed the 

 following law: 



It shall be the duty of the Fish and Game Oommission to gather data of the 

 commercial fisheries and to prepare the data so as to show the real abundance of 

 the most important commercial fishes ; to make such investigations of the biology of 

 the various species of fish as will guide in the collection and preparation of the 

 statistical information necessary to determine evidence of overfishing ; to make 

 such investigations as will bring to light as soon as possible those evidences of over- 

 fishing as are shown by changes in the age groups of any variety of fish ; to deter- 

 mine what measures may be advisable to conserve any fishery, or to enlarge and 

 assist any fishery where that may be done without danger to the supply. 



This, together with laws which provide the means for gathering com- 

 plete and accurate statistics of the fisheries, as well as laws which pro- 

 vide a revenue from the fisheries, puts the fisheries conservation work 

 of the state on a firm and definite foundation, and assures the continu- 

 ation of investigation work which owes most of its value to the fact that 

 it is continuous. 



To the Department of Commercial Fisheries falls the duty of carrying 

 out the commercial fisheries work of the Commission. 



STATISTICS OF THE FISHERIES. 



In the appendix to this report will be found statistical tables gathered 



and compiled by this department which show in detail the magnitude 



of California's fisheries. Complete recent statistics of most of the other 



states are lacking but we believe none will contest California's claim to 



