REPORT. 



To his Excellency George Stonem an, Governor of California : 



The Commissioners of Fisheries for the State of California, appointed 

 under an Act of the Legislature, entitled "an Act to provide for the 

 restoration and preservation of fish in the waters of the State," ap- 

 proved April 2, 1870, respectfully submit their eighth biennial report. 



SALMON. 



This most important of our inland water fish is in great demand, 

 not only by all our citizens for table consumption, but also by the 

 numerous canneries, some twenty-one in number, situated on the 

 banks of the Sacramento, the bays, and in San Francisco, having 

 increased their business in the last few years to large proportions. 

 The average pack now is about 200,000 cases per annum. The boats 

 employed in 1883, in taking salmon, were about 1,200, and are increas- 

 ing in number. The average catch to each boat is about 1,500 fish, 

 weighing about 21,600,000 pounds, per annum. 



The increase of catch for the last three years caused a marked de- 

 crease in the supply for the year 1883, with a chance of a more marked 

 decrease for the year 1884, the causes of which are many, viz.: 



First — Illicit fishing done during the close season. 



Second — Loss of salmon in the tules. 



Third — The consumption by seals and sea-lions, which are very 

 destructive to salmon and other fish. They follow the fish from the 

 Golden Gate to Rio Vista. 



Fourth — The different kinds of aquatic birds, which are very nu- 

 merous, and very destructive to the young of all kinds of fish as they 

 are descending from the spawning grounds to the ocean. 



Fifth— Dams and other obstructions near their spawning grounds. 



These are the principal difficulties over which the Commissioners 

 have no control, except as to the first. 



THE VIOLATORS OF THE LAW. 



The Commissioners have exercised their power to abate the evil of 

 illicit fishing, but owing to the limited means at their command, 

 they have been unable to do all that was required to be done. There 

 has been in that direction a great amount of work performed, in dif- 

 ferent parts of the State, the most of which was done on the lower 

 Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, and the bays of Suisun, San 

 Pablo, and San Francisco. 



During the close season of 1883 the Commission placed a patrol 

 upon the rivers and bays, which has had a very wholesome effect. 



