150 tA FI8H AND GAME 



two otl ei - Tl •■ incoming fish will be breeders, and we shall require 



funds to enable us to establish br lin'_ r stations on the Sacramento 



and San Joaquin rivers, and, above all, we require proper laws to pre- 

 serve this season's arrivals. It will be seen by the i mpanying itate 



iiiriit that the entire expenditure of the Commission sine- its last report, 



lias been less than sis thousand dollars, and during the existent f the 



Commission four years bul seven thousand. With this a greal deal 

 has been done, and the foundation laid for the accomplishment of much 

 more. 



The work is bul commenced, and as we have before remarked time 

 in this business is a more importanl elemenl than money. The mosl 

 in importance is the means for preventing the destruction of the fish 

 we already have. The Commission find it almost Impossible to prevail 

 upon the people to refrain from destroying fish in the Localities whi 

 they abound. It seems as if human invention is taxed to its utmosl 

 in thr desire for wholesale destruction, and the reluctance which men 

 to complain of their neighbors, renders i1 almost impossible to 

 enforce the laws in such cases. If the Legislature should see fit to 

 make an appropriation sufficienl to allow the Commissioners to employ, 

 at times, a proper person to Look after such violations of the fish laws 

 and see to their enforcement, we think this evil could readily be sup- 

 pressed, as the people at Large show a great interest in having the law 

 enforced, but no one is willing to make himself obnoxious by being an 

 informer. All this would be cured by placing the means of remedy 

 in the hands of the Commission. 



The Commission already have the power to do this, and have done 

 it with most hopeful results, so far as their limited means have allowed. 

 It will be necessary, during this session of the Legislature, to have 



ssed a full and comprehensive law 7 relating to all kinds of fishing. 

 Tn the first place, the whole system of fish-traps, seins. fykes, etc., 

 should be abolished by law. Secondly the meshes of the nets used 

 should be regulated by law. The time of fishing for salmon should be 

 properly limited. There come from all parts of the State constant 

 complaints of the destruction of fish by saw-dust, and refuse from saw- 

 mills thrown into the streams: and petitions for the enactment of la 

 to prevent it are now before the Legislature. This Commission will 

 be aided by many citizens interested in these matters, in passing a law 

 covering the piscatory interests of the State, which we hope will be 

 favorably acted upon by the Legislature. The Commissioners have 

 taken pains to ascertain the season of the year during which the taking 

 of salmon should be prohibited by law. We have caused careful 

 observations to be made of the time at which the salmon ascend to the 

 heads of the rivers to spawn, and from all the information we have 

 been able to obtain in that way. and by consulting with persons well 

 qualified to afford advice from the results of practical knowledge of 

 the subject, we would recommend that the taking of salmon be pro- 

 hibited by law from the first of August to the first of November. It 

 should be observed that the having in possession, or offering for sale, 

 of salmon during the close term so prohibited, should be punished the 

 same as of the taking of them. 



In conclusion, vour Commissioners, with much diffidence, would 

 ask the aid of the Legislature for the means of carrying on the work 



