62 



FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



The iiivestijiations in tlie San Joaquin Delta have been p-reatly facili- 

 tated by the constrnction of the new Fish and (iame research vessel, 

 Striper. This vessel is owned by the Bureau of Fish Conservation and is 

 manned by a netman and boatswain employed by the Bureau of Marine 

 Fisheries. His time is divided about ocjually between the two bureaus. 



The Striper is a 28-foot Frazer River type gill -net boat with a power 

 reel for Avinding up gill lu^ts. It is equipped with bunks and facilities 

 for cooking. When used by Fish Conservation, most of the Striper's 



Figure 14. Fish and Game boat f<triper jointly used by the Bureau of Marine Fisheries 

 and the Bureau of Fish Conservation for research in llie Sacramento-San .Joaquin Delta. 



Photoyruph by Kramer Adams. 



time is spent working on striped bass. Marine Fisheries uses most of its 

 share of the boat's time on salmon investigation but has done some work 

 on crabs. The boat has been used for tow net hauls, for the dragging of 

 small trawls and dredges, and for gill-netting to obtain striped bass and 

 salmon for tagging. The power-operated net reel makes this last opera- 

 tion far easier and more efficient. The use of this power reel makes it 

 possil)le for the operators to make as many as six comy)ai"atively short 

 gill-nel drifts wiiei'e a civw with a li;in(l-pulled gill net would find it 

 possible to make no more tluin t\\(» long dcifts. This means that the fish 

 spend a relatively short time tangled in onr n(>ts, hence are much less 

 weakened by being licld. .\ net is sti'ung out in an api)r()priate place and 

 allowed to di-i It for w li;itc\cr li>n,i;1 li of t inic seems most desirable, usually 

 about an lioui-. and then is picked up. To pick up the net, one operator 

 steps on a treadle in the reaf of the boat. This starts the big reel turning 

 slowly and bi'ings in the net until a fish is reached. One man can fish 

 with this type of boat; two men cjin both fish and tag if the fish are not 

 very abuiulant. Tn the event rtf ;i lie;i\y I'un of either salmon or striped 

 bass, three men are desirable. 



