10 REPORT OF STATE BOXrD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



LOBSTERS. 



In Ma}', 1888, the United States Fish Commission at Washington 

 sent a carload of Atlantic lobsters {Homarus Americanus) to this coast, 

 consigned, for delivery at Monterey Bay, to two of the State Commission- 

 ers. The car was in charge of Mr. Frank Ellis, one of the deputies 

 of the United States Commission, and most experienced in the trans- 

 portation of fish. Over one hundred and sixty full-grown lobsters were 

 placed in Monterey Bay, off the shore and near Point Finos. These 

 lobsters arrived in a healthy condition and full of vigor, and when 

 placed in the waters swam away with great rapidity, seeking their 

 natural haunt at the bottom, among the rocks. Over thirty thousand 

 young lobsters also were deposited in and around the same locality. 



Since this deposit was made no definite and reliable information has 

 been received that the lobsters have thrived. Reports have come to us 

 that one or two of the mature lobsters were washed up by the waves on 

 the Monterey beach some two years after their transplanting, alive and 

 in good condition. They were at once placed back into the sea, as the 

 fishermen of Monterey Bay were duly informed of the eflbrt made to 

 transplant this most edible of fishes, and have apparently been only too 

 willing to assist the Commission in its labors. None of the young 

 lobsters have been heard from. There is a standing reward for the pro- 

 duction of the first live lobster, which at the present time remains 

 unclaimed. There would seem to be no reason why the lobster should 

 not thrive on our coast. The temperature of the waters of the bay is 

 exactly identical with that of Woods Holl, where the lobsters were taken ^ 

 on the Atlantic Coast. The saline quality is likewise the same. It may 

 be that the lobster fails to find similar food to that to which it is accus- 

 tomed in the Atlantic, or that there is some unknown enemy which has 

 devastated them. Four 3'ears are ample time to mature the young lob- 

 ster, and if the experiment has been a success we should certainly have 

 definite results at the latest within another year. 



FRESH-WATER CRAY-FISH, OR KCKEVISSE. 



These fish, which are indigenous to our State, and at one time most 

 plentiful in the fresh-water streams around our bay, have become 

 almost exterminated through the unlimited taking of the same for food 

 purposes. We suggest that a law should be passed making it a misde- 

 meanor for the period of the next three years to take, catch, or have in 

 one's possession any of these fish. 



STEAM LAUNCHES AND BOATS. 



We are compelled to hire during almost every month of the year a 

 steam launch, row boats, and yawls. This we are expected to pay for 

 out of the sum_of money appropriated for the Patrol Department, and 

 as above indicated, the same is entirely insufficient. We were particu- 

 larly fortunate at the outset of our work in having donated to us the 

 steam launch of Commissioner Joseph Morizio, who gave the Commis- 

 sion the use of it without charge for several weeks, thus reducing our 

 expenses considerably. 



