REPORT OP THE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 61 



But siiu'C their appearance a great deal of additional work has heen 

 done and tlie wliole subject of migrations and fluctuation of the catch 

 will be treated in a subsequent paper which is now being prepared for 

 publication. It is sufificient to say that the results show that there are 

 no sudden and long migrations made within a season as has been be- 

 lieved by many of the fishermen and caused them to nuike long trips up 

 and down the coast in tli<' hoV\rf tlic schools had made an extensive 

 migration. 



There is evidently a migration to tlic northward through a period of 

 years but the migration of any one year class is comparatively limited. 

 During the short periods when they do not take the hook they are un- 

 doubtedly near at hand, probably deep in the water, but the conditions 

 which are allied with the temperature, are such that they do not feed 

 at the surface and therefore do not come within the range of the hooks 

 of the fishermen. This knowledge should prove of economic importance 

 to the industry. 



Sardine Investigation. 



Although there is probably no iinniediate danger of depleting the 

 supply of sardines in this state, the time to begin an investigation is 

 while tliis industry is yet young and before depletion takes place. Th(^ 

 rapid growth together with the magnitude and importance of this 

 fishery has caused us to concentrate our efforts upon it. A considerable 

 amount of preliminary work was done by Mr. W. F. Thompson, as- 

 sisted by ISlv. Elmer Higgins, Mr. A. W. Warnock and others. In this 

 work, begun two years ago, the breeding season was observed, a series 

 of scales and other data were collected for the study of age and rate of 

 growth. A set of careful observations were made on the difference 

 between sardines from San Diego, San Pedro and Monterey to deter- 

 mine the interdependence of the fish in the different regions. This 

 point is of importance for it is vital to know if the sardines of each 

 fishing center constitute a local prol)lem or if there is an interdepend- 

 ence between the different regions. A report on this part of the work 

 will soon be out. Very good supplies of very young sardines were 

 collected during the investigations carried on l)y tlu^ patrol boat 

 "Albacore, " which throw much light on the spawning habits of the 

 sardine. 



About a year ago the sardine woi-k was taken up in a thorough- 

 going manner and a well defined program laid down designed to meet 

 the needs of the fishery. This program was published in Vol. 6, No. 1. 

 pp. 10-12 of our cjuarterly magazine Calip^orxia Fish and Game. It 

 also follows the general plan as set forth in Fish Bulletin No. 2. The 

 program although scientific is extremely practical and meets well the 



