28 KEl'OKT OF STATE 150A1UJ OF FISII COMMISSIONERS. 



operations at the height of the run. These requests come mainly from 

 cold-storage people of other States (who operate here) and a few fish 

 dealers whose interests are purely selfish. The principal canneries 

 (those that have been established in our State for years and whose 

 managers have studied the movements of our salmon and have learned 

 the value of artificial propagation) desire no change, unless it be to 

 extend the close season from October 16th to October 25th. The intel- 

 ligent salmon fisherman is also satisfied. 



Under the operations of this law, our salmon supply has continued 

 to show a remarkable increase. These results are not so apparent 

 from the returns by the canneries. The reason is not difficult to find, 

 for the canneries can only afford to pay such a price for fish as will 

 permit them to meet the competition of northern canneries, otherwise 

 there is no profit in the business. In other words, they take only the 

 surplus fish during the heavy runs, when the market is glutted, for 

 which they pay from two to three cents per pound. There is such an 

 increasing demand for our fresh salmon and the fishermen receive so 

 much better prices from the cold-storage plants, who prepare them for 

 shipment to Eastern States and States north of us, that the canneries 

 are obliged to depend upon what they can get at their own figure, 

 which is about one half what is paid by the cold-storage plants. In 

 other words, cold-storage plants are taking the place of the canneries. 

 Business concerns from Washington and Oregon have established plants 

 at different points along the Sacramento River from Chico to Vallejo. 

 The fish are also handled by the same process at Monterey. 



The common remark that the pioneer saw the palmy days of the 

 salmon run, is not made by men who have lived along the Sacramento 

 River for forty years, who state that never to their knowledge were 

 these fish so numerous as in 1908 and 1904. This statement may seem 

 startling, but our experience and observations will support it. Not 

 only is the Sacramento River and its tributaries producing more salmon 

 than ever before, but the San Joaquin River and its tributaries, the 

 Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced, all show increased runs. Streams 

 in which salmon had not been seen for many years contain them in 

 large numbers now, indicating that the salmon are so plentiful that 

 they spread into all of the smaller streams to find spawning grounds. 



The United States Bureau of Fisheries station at Mill Creek, first put 

 in operation three years ago, shoAvs a splendid gain from year to year 

 in its take of salmon eggs. Battle Creek and Baird stations have 

 broken the world's record in the past two years. In the fall of 1903 

 this Commission handled more than 68,000,000 salmon eggs furnished 

 l)y these stations. In the fall of 1902 the returns were not so large, 

 owing to early November rains, which swept out the retaining racks 

 and liberated thousands of spawn-bearing fish. At Battle Creek station 



