8 



REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



the yearly increase in the receipts of fish in the San Francisco markets, 

 must be attributed to the planting of fry in former years: 



Salmon Received in the San Francisco Market. 



Month. 



1893. 



1894. 



1895. 



1896. 



January . 

 February 

 March ... 



April 



May 



June 



July 



August 



September 



October 



November 

 December . 



137,460 



93,263 



139,401 



374,478 



325,170 



70,216 



,139,988 



149,217 

 575,609 



128,556 

 103,801 

 163,131 

 211,552 

 242,126 

 138,675 



937,841 



117,516 

 576,991 



249,753 

 183,789 

 155,090 



403,340 

 276,768 

 192,153 



161,641 

 146,250 

 155,791 

 365,387 

 401,787 

 161,989 



1,392,845 



115,592 

 447,094 



431,453 

 326,474 



Totals I 2,453,446 ' 2,554,609 ; 2,713,458 



168,366 

 173,278 

 197,043 

 301,964 

 291,310 

 134,922 



1,266,883 



While the yearly increase is not large, it shows a healthy growth, and 

 establishes the fact that this fishery can-, with proper protection and the 

 re-stocking of our waters, be restored to its former splendid condition, 

 when the annual catch amounted to ten millions of pounds instead of 

 four. 



It must be borne in mind that the success at Battle Creek station is due 

 entirely to the extension of the close season. Until October was included 

 in the close season, the salmon that had successfully passed the bays and 

 lower river during the month of September were legally taken by the 

 ton from their spawning-beds, or in the deep pools of the Sacramento 

 River in Tehama and Shasta counties, though the fish were unfit for 

 food and had not accomplished the purpose for which the State had 

 guarded their ascent of the river. The addition of the month of October 

 to the close season was timely and is of vital importance in the efforts 

 of the Commission to restore the supply of salmon. The Board met 

 with no opposition to its efforts to enforce the observance of the extended 

 close season in the region of the upper Sacramento and in Humboldt 

 County. This change meets with the approval of the people of those 

 sections, as well as of the fish-dealers of the San Francisco market, all 

 of whom have evinced a genuine interest in the efforts of the Commission 

 to increase the run of our most valuable fish. In Del Norte County, 

 however, the efforts of the Board to enforce this law were made abortive 

 by the action of the local authorities, the Board of Supervisors assuming 

 to make regulations in conflict with the State law, and the District Attor- 

 ney instructing the Justices of the Peace to refuse to issue warrants, and 

 refusing himself to prosecute arrested offenders. Our deputy was with- 

 drawn and the matter was called to the attention of the Attorney-Gen- 



