10 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



When the salmon come in from the open sea they are set upon, and 

 many schools are broken up and driven back; and only when compelled 

 by the demands of nature do they gather in sufficient numbers to force 

 an entrance to the bays and lower rivers. Thus is the run of this valu- 

 able fish lessened and delayed. Their devastations do not cease here, 

 as the seals follow in the wake of the fish, ascending as high as the 

 waters of Suisun Bay and the lower Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, 

 where the principal fishing-grounds for salmon, striped bass, and shad 

 are found. Not content with taking the number of fish they wish for 

 food, which is considerable, they go along the nets biting and killing the 

 fish, tossing them into the air, and playing with them. In this way 

 they tear the nets; and very often bepoming entangled in the meshes 

 thereof, the net is completely destroyed. 



It has been estimated that there are at the present time no less than 

 two thousand seals resorting to the Seal Rocks; and, as it is said to 

 require about sixty pounds of fish a day to supply the needs of a full- 

 grown individual, it is easily seen that they are interfering seriously 

 with the fishing industry of this State. 



We fully appreciate the great attraction they are to the people of this 

 city and State, as well as to the great number of visitors who annually 

 come here; but, as the servants of the people of this State, charged with 

 the duty of protecting their fisheries, we deemed it wise to call the atten- 

 tion of the proper officials to the above referred to Act, wherein the right 

 to at all times control and limit or diminish the number of the seals 

 resorting to said rocks, so as to protect the fisheries and fishing indus- 

 tries, is reserved to the United States. We communicated with the U. S. 

 Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, who referred the matter to the 

 Secretary of the Interior, with the recommendation that this matter be 

 given prompt attention. 



In order that you may fully understand the subject, and deeming it 

 of interest to many, we append herewith a copy of the Act relating to 

 the control and care of the Seal Rocks: 



An Act to Grant Certain Seal Rocks to the City and County of San Feancisco, 

 State of California, in Trust for the People of the United States. 



[Approved February 23, 1887.] 



Be it enacted by the Seriate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, 

 in Congress assembled. That all the right and title of the United States in and to the rocky 

 islets known as the Seal Rocks, and all rights to seals resorting there, situated off Point 

 Lobos, in the City and County of San Francisco, State of California, are hereby granted, 

 subject to the provisions named, in trust to said city and county, upon the following 

 conditions and for the following uses, to wit: Said city and county shall hold said Seal 

 Rocks inalienable for all time in trust for the people of the United States, and shall 

 commit to the Commissioners of Golden Gate Park the custody and care of said Seal 

 Rocks, and shall keep said rocks free from encroachment hj man, and shall preserve 

 from molestation the seals and other animals now accustomed to resort there, to the 

 end that said Seal Rocks will continue to be a ptfblic preserve and resort for seals ; 



