16 



REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



The export trade in fishery products is summed up in 

 EXPORTS, the following table: 



Value of Exports of Fishery Products from San Francisco.* 



Article. 



1892. 



1893. 



1894. 



1895. 



Codfish : $26,681 00 



Dried fish ! 34,439 00 



Salmon, canned ' 1,810,567 00 



Salmon, in barrels i 46,986 00 



Other canned fish 10,715 00 



Oysters | 9,655 00 



Other shell-fish ' 226,063 00 



$21,412 00 



27,043 00 



621,336 00 



44,157 00 



9,828 00 



7,432 00 



188,532 00 



$16,557 00 



39,558 00 



1,766,619 00 



43,028 00 



13,397 00 



7,369 00 



167,453 00 



$21,945 00 



20,351 00 



2,285,711 00 



42,756 00 



25,820 00 



7,151 00 



179,734 00 



Totals - $2,165,106 00 



$919,740 00 



$2,053,981 00 



$2,583,468 00 



*Figures furnished by U. S. Customs officials, San Francisco. 



In the enforcement of the laws we have done all that was 

 ENFORCING possible; and, while not claiming to have covered all of 

 THE LAWS, the territory under our jurisdiction, which would be impos- 

 sible with ten times as many men as our funds will per- 

 mit of our employing, we do claim to have given the food fishes all the 

 protection possible, and to have so placed our men that the best service 

 was rendered to the most important interests placed in our charge. 



Our purpose has been to give the salmon fisheries that 



SALMON supervision and protection which is necessary to insure 



PROTECTION, the run of fish reaching the headwaters of our rivers, so 



that a sufficient number of eggs may be taken to keep 



up the supply. 



An effectual patrol of the bays and rivers from San Francisco to 

 Redding has been maintained during the close season. During both the 

 spring and fall runs our deputies have been kept on the river with in- 

 structions to examine the nets and ascertain if the legal-sized mesh was 

 in use and see that the Saturday-Sunday law was not violated. We 

 have hired the launch " Hustler " for this patrol, and have found her 

 well adapted to the river work. The number of arrests made has not been 

 large, because such heavy fines have been imposed under the present 

 laws that the fishermen do not care to take the chances of being caught 

 and convicted. When arrested, they have, almost without exception, 

 fought the cases in court rather than plead guilty, as was their habit 

 when the penalty was less severe. 



Thousands of feet of sturgeon lines, the use of which is 



STURGEON now prohibited by law, have been taken up; and, never 



LINES. having been claimed, are now in our possession. We 



are determined to break up the use of this gear, as none 



more destructive to fish of every kind is in use. 



