THIRTY-FOURTH BIENNIAL REPORT 41 



of Fish and Game. The price of oil was good and the reduction opera- 

 tions were quite profitable. Under the law canners may take sardines 

 without limit provided they produce the equivalent of 13^ cases of 

 pound oval cans from each ton of fish, but it is unlawful to use sardines 

 for reduction except under permit. The law limits the amount of the 

 permits to what will not tend to deplete the species. Permits were 

 issued for the season 1934-1935 to aid the sardine canners to tide over 

 the depression in the sardine canning- industry and to give employment 

 to fishermen, many of whom were in dire want. Our recommenda- 

 tion was that reduction permits be issued in amount not to exceed 

 5000 tons for each plant for the season. Under the circumstances it 

 seemed proper to issue liberal permits, even if it resulted in a serious 

 strain on the sardine supply. Permits were issued from time to time 

 during the season until at the end of the season most of the plants 

 had received 12,000 tons, an amount far in excess of what the com- 

 missioners had expected to give earlier in the season. These liberal 

 permits not only gave relief to canners and fishermen but stimulated 

 still further the expansion of an industry already over-capitalized. 

 More reduction plants were built to be in readiness for the next season. 

 During the season additional fisliing boats were added to the fleets and 

 tlie number of fishermen was increased by several hundred, many of 

 them coining in with boats purcliased or chartered outside the State. 

 Canning was neglected except by a few of the wiser canners, resulting 

 in a pack which was slightly less than in the previous poor season, 

 although there was a brisk demand for canned sardines toward the 

 end of the season. 



For the season 1935-1936 reduction permits were issued but they 

 were for less than half the amount given each plant during the pre- 

 vious season. There was a number of additional plants which got 

 permits but the total tonnage of the permits granted was considerably 

 less than for the season before. This resulted in a decline of 15 per 

 cent in the total catch of sardines as compared with the season before, 

 notwithstanding quite an increased tonnage was taken for canning. 

 The market for canned sardines w^as strong throughout the season and 

 resulted in a greatly increased pack. Most of the increase was for 

 other sizes than pound oval cans. 



The total pack of over three million cases was mostly sold in this 

 country instead of 80 per cent of it going to foreign countries as was 

 the case a few years ago. This change has been aided by the increased 

 demand for all kinds of canned fish in the United States. It looks 

 now as though the California sardine canners have at last gained the 

 domestic market for their product, a thing which they have desired 

 for many years. With this prospect of a good domestic market for 

 canned sardines, canners are beginning to fear that excessive use of 

 sardines for reduction purposes will deplete the supply of fish to such 

 an extent that the canning industry, with its large investments in plants 

 and boats, will be jeopardized. 



In our last biennial report w^e commented on what we considered 

 the enormous sardine catch for the season 1933-1934, which was, for 

 shore and floating plants, a little over 190,000 tons. The amount of 

 sardines delivered to shore and floating plants the past two seasons has 

 greatly exceeded that huge amount, the shore and floating plants on 



