EIGHTEENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE STATE BOARD 



OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



To Hon. George C. Pardee, 



Governor of the State of California : 



Sir: In accordance with law, the vState Board of Fish Commissioners 

 has the honor to siihmit for your consideration its Eighteenth Biennial 

 Report, being a record of its work and expenditures from September 1, 

 1902, to September 1, 1904. 



We submit, also, the recommendations which our experience in carry- 

 ing on this important work has suggested, as tending, in our jvidgment, 

 to the betterment of both the fish and the game interests. 



Since the Seventeenth Biennial Report was suVmiitted, the personnel 

 of this Board has undergone one change. H. W. Keller tendered his 

 resignation on April 24, 1903. On May 6, 1903, W. W. Van Arsdale 

 Avas elected President of the Board, vice H. W. Keller, resigned. 



Regular meetings of the Board have been held during the first of 

 every month, and at such other times as became necessary to the wel- 

 fare of our work. Complete niiiuites of all the meetings are on file in 

 our office, rooms 508 and 509, Mills Building, San Francisco. Duplicate 

 bills of every item drawn against the appropriations over which we 

 have control are also on file, and records of the same are on our min- 

 ute and account books. 



On November 29, 1903, the California Fish Commission and all the 

 people interested in the restoration and preservation of the salmon 

 industry of the Pacific Coast sustained an irreparable loss by the 

 death of Mr. Cloudsley Rutter. Mr. Rutter had been stationed on this 

 coast by the United States Fish Commission for a term of years to 

 study out some of the disputed questions regarding the salmon of the 

 Pacific. He was an earnest, intelligent student of all forms of fish 

 life, but his chief work was a study of our salmon, especially the Quinnat, 

 or salmon of the Sacramento River. He had perhaps a more varied 

 and general experience on this subject than any ichthyologist of this 

 country, as he covered not only the scientific but also the practical 

 side of the question. Naturally a man of great ability and force, he 

 devoted all his energy and attainments to the work before him. He 

 was frequently in our service and contributed valuable data and 

 reports that threw light on many conflicting opinions regarding the 



