FORTY-FIRST BIEXNI.M. KKl'OKT 



would have grown enough to he sah'al)le in aiiotluT year or so. A result 

 of this condition was the industry's agreement to the passage of a hiw 

 limiting otter trawls to a mesh of 4i inehes. Tlie 4!-iiich mesh reiiuire- 

 ment now enforced corresponds quite closely to the ])re-l!)40 tivf-im-h 

 mesh voluntary agreement. This is heeause in tlie older agreement the 

 mesh size was measured from center of knot to center of kn(»t ; whereas. 

 the modern law requires that the measurement he of the t-h-ar opening 

 between the knots. When the present law was passed, it stated that the 

 nets should be five inches clear opening between knots, but tliis was 

 later reduced to -i^ inches at the request of tlie industry. It is too early 

 for this mesh-restriction law to have shown an\- results in the ini|>n)ve- 

 ment of the fishery. 



Work on the trawl fishery by the liurean of Marine V'ishei-ii's lias 

 included a study of the trawl boat logs, goiug into some detail as to 

 the species caug-ht, the catch localities, cateli depths, and so on. All this 

 work is necessary in order to keep an accurate track of the conditions (»f 

 the fishery and its progress from year to year. 



Research work on the vessel X. B. Scofuhl has included a study ot' 

 the effects of different sizes of trawl mesh on the release of young fish, 

 and some exploratory work to determine the fisliing ])otential i>\' the 

 deep sea off the coast of California. 



Several species of bottom fish have heen tagged in order to learn 

 something about their movements and rate of survival. We lia\t' hei'u 

 getting excellent cooperation from fishing boat crews in the return 

 of these fish. This is esjjecially gi-atifying in view of the fact that (ui 

 board a trawler flatfish are definitely a bulk ])rotluct, and the fishenuen 

 must keep their eyes open in order to spot the tagged individuals. In- 

 evitably some tags are missed by the fishermen. .Many of tln'se are found 

 and returned to us by the men aiul women in the fish pi-ocessiuL' plants. 



xVlmost all of the returns of fiatfish tags have been made within I'd 

 miles of the place where the fish were released, showing that most (.f 

 the species move relatively little. Exceptions to this were two Kui:li>h 

 sole which were tagged off Eureka and i-ecovered olV San l-'raneiscu. 



SABLEFISH 



The sablefish (block codj fishery of the Pacific Coast lias shown 

 alarming signs of depletion. Concern for the future has led the iiidustry 

 to request that the Pacific Marine Fisheries Commission start an investi- 

 gation of the species. The commission in turn has asked that the h.io|ogi.-aI 

 staffs of California. Oregon, and Washington start tiiis work. 



Before a suitable conservation ju'ogratn can be developed, it is nec.s- 

 sary to know whether we are dealing with a single coastwide popplatiou 

 of sablefish or with a number of smaller ix.pniations each nf which re- 

 mains in a somewhat restricted area. In order to answer this qiiestnui 

 all three states are ta-ging sablefish to flefrmine the exte.it of their 

 movements. As another wav of getting at tli- same problem, the throe 

 states, Canada, and Alaska are all collecting sablefish samples »'"• -'"p- 

 ment to the California State Fisheries Laboratory at lerniinal lslan<l 

 where meristic counts are being taken and where a comparison is beinp 

 made between fish from the different areas. 



