oO riSn AND GAME COMMISSION 



Hatchery (marked by removing' dorsal and right ventral fins) ; and 

 137,000 from Prairie Creek Hatchery near Orick (marked by removing 

 anal and left venti-al fins). It was expected that the -wild fish could be 

 cauglit b}- the use of seines, since this method of catching young salmon 

 had proved quite successful in the American River and in some of the 

 rivers of the San Joaquin Valley. However, when seines were tried in the 

 Saci-amento. they proved to be utterly inadequate as only a few hundred 

 fish pel- day could be obtained. The method of attack was immediately 

 shifted and 22 fyke nets mounted on rectangular frames were built and 

 set ill the riffles of the Sacramento River. These nets did the job, but 

 the ]iroper setting of them proved to be quite a task. If they were placed 

 in water which flowed too slowlv, thev did not catch enough fish. But, 

 if they were placed in water which flowed too rapidly, they caught many 

 fish but killed most of them. Intensive exjierimenting was required to 

 find suitable places, but oiu-e these spots were found the nets produced 

 an entirely adequate supjily of good healthy fish. The wild salmon were 

 carried to Coleman Hatchery, marked by the same crews that were 

 marking the hatchery fish, and then returned to the Sacramento River. 

 Colenuin Hatchery is operated by the IJ. S. Fish and Wildlife Serv- 

 ice, wliich donated the hatchery fish and the facilities for marking 

 hatchery and wild fish in that area. The Coleman Hatchery staff took 

 an interest in this work, made suggestions of great value and gave us 

 M list of experienced fish mai'kei-s residing in that area. The division 

 wishes to thank the V. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and John Pelnar, the 

 district supervisor who is in chai-ge of Coleman Hatchery. 



MACKEREL 



The Pacific mackerel fislici-y I'cniaiiicd at a relatively low level dur- 

 ing the bienninm. The lfl47 ycar-chiss, which formed a large portion of 

 the catch in 1M47-4S. continued to sn])i)oi-1 the fishery in l!)48-49 and 

 1949-50. Landings in the Los Angeles region, wliich account for virtualiv 

 all of the State's catch, fell t(. less than :57,()()(),()()() pounds in 1948-49— 

 the lowest figni-e since the fishery became ot major importance in P).3;5. 

 In 1949-50, landings rose to nearly 49, 000, ()()(), a substantial gain but 

 still far below the record season of 1985-3() when about l;!(),()00,()()(i 

 |)oiiii(|s were processed. Itoth scoop and seine boats were active. In 

 I94S-49 scoop fislieriiicn caught iiearl.\- 2.S. ()()(). 000 pounds and seine 

 fishei-men 9,000,000. Preliminary figures for 1949-50 show i-onghly ecpial 

 catches for each tvpe of gear. State-wide landings were approximate! v 

 :5H,000,000 i)onn<ls in 1948-4!) and 50,000.000 in 1949-50. 



Ifoiitine sam])ling of the eoiniiiercial catch continued without in- 

 tcnii pt ion. These saiii|)les proxide tlie basic int'ormation regarding the 

 size and a'jc of the fish which cntcT" the fishcr.x'. Studies of the age com- 

 position of the catch For the period l!t;;9-49 wci-e completed. At the close 

 of the bienninm the data wcic being eonipile<l in inannscript form. 

 Results of the tagging program wei'c published as Fish IJnIletin 7."5 in 

 1!)49. This j)r(»gr-am was inangnrated in ri;i5 and the last tagged fisli 

 were recovered in 1947. 



The fisherv for jack mackerel is carried out almost exclusively 

 b.v seiners. Landings were sni)s1antial, though far short of the bannei- 

 1947-48 season when the catch passed 142,000,000 pounds. The state-wide 



