13 



been captured at Monterey, and near Alameda. This is one of the 

 most valuable ocean and river fish of the Atlantic coast, and supplies 

 a large amount of food to the people of the Eastern States. There is 

 now no doubt they will thrive in our waters, and we shall make 

 every exertion to obtain large numbers, so that, in time, our bays 

 and brackish waters, at the inouth of our rivers, may be fully 

 stocked. 



LOBSTERS AND EELS. 



The twenty-four mature lobsters, to which were attached about 

 two million eggs nearly ready to hatch, brought from the Atlantic 

 in 1879, were placed in a sheltered cove near the Golden Gate. No 

 person, so far as we can learn, has as yet tried to capture any of them, 

 and none have been accidentally caught. As all the conditions 

 seemed favorable, we have no doubt the young are growing, and 

 that, during the coming Summer, we shall hear of California lob- 

 sters having been taken and brought to market. 



Occasionally we hear of an eel being captured, but as yet they 

 have not showed an increase in proportion to that of other imported 

 fish. 



EASTERN AND CALIFORNIA TROUT. 



We each Winter hatch the eggs of large numbers of both these 

 varieties of trout, and distribute them in streams in different parts 

 of the State. The South Yuba and the North Fork of the American 

 Eivers, which originally contained no fish above the high falls on 

 each stream, are now well stocked with both kinds of trout. We 

 have also stocked other streams, which naturally contained no fish, 

 or from which all the fish had been caught. 



FISH-WAYS. 



Whenever we have learned that the passages for fish are obstructed 

 by artificial dams in any streams, we have notified the owners of 

 such obstructions to remove them, or construct fish-ways, so as to 

 permit the free passage of fish. When the owners neglect or refuse 

 to comply with the law, Ave place the matter in the hands of the Dis- 

 trict Attorney of the county for prosecution. The law controlling the 

 subject is deemed wise and beneficial, and only in a few cases has it 

 been found necessary to do more than call the attention of the 

 offending parties to its requirements. 



At the last session of the Legislature an Act was passed ''To pro- 

 vide for removing obstructions in Pit River, above the mouth of Hat 

 Creek, so as to enable salmon to reach the spawning grounds on the 

 upper waters of said river and its tributaries." 



At the place designated on the Pit. there is a fall of forty-one feet. 

 The salmon in vast numbers reach the foot of this fall, and are now 

 unable to pass. If a pas.sage were made over this fall through which 

 the fish could pass, they would find on the upper waters of the Pit 

 and its tributaries, between two and three hundred miles of unob- 

 structed spawning grounds. This would make an area of spawning 

 ground equal to that now used by salmon in all the other tributaries 

 of the Sacramento. Therefore, the removal of tins obstruction should, 

 in a few years, even if artificial propagation were discontinued, more 

 than double the present number of salmon annually visiting the 



