40 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



weight limit. That a 74- inch mesh net would not take a bass of less 

 than six or seven pounds weight gave them some excuse for operating 

 in San Pablo and San Francisco bays with nets of a mesh that would 

 take the legal-sized fish. 



Our observations and experiences indicated that the fish needed 

 greater protection to offset the increased demand created by the con- 

 stantly enlarging market. We therefore felt that it was necessary to 

 enforce strictly all the provisions of the statute as it stands, in exact 

 conformity with the salmon law, irrespective of locality. 



Some are of the opinion that a close season should be established. 

 This, in our judgment, is not feasible. The same result can be accom- 

 plished by enforcing the Saturday and Sunday law, which means two 

 days close season per week, or, in fifty-two weeks, one hundred and four 

 days, equal to more than three months of close season. This can be 

 done without disturbing the markets and at the same time permit 

 our people to angle for, and have in possession, striped bass the whole 

 year. It reduces the time during which they can be netted from seven 

 to five days per week. 



The principal spawning season of striped bass is during the months 

 of April and May, which is also the time during which the spring run 

 of salmon makes it appearance in our rivers. For these fish there is 

 also an ever-increasing market. The fish are sought by the cold- 

 storage concerns of this and other states, and are shipped both East 

 and North in carload lots, the fishermen receiving as high as 12 cents 

 per pound. In this respect California has a more difficult problem than 

 any'other state in the Union, it being the only one in which the striped 

 bass and salmon are found in the same waters. If we had no spring 

 run of salmon, it would be a wise and proper move to establish a close 

 season for the striped bass during their breeding period, but it is utterly 

 impossible to catch one fish without catching the other. All the salmon 

 are not needed at that season of the year for spawning purposes, and 

 should rightfully be sold in our markets or shipped to other states. 

 They command a price far beyond that of striped bass at that time, so 

 the fishermen make special efforts to take them, yet in their operations 

 they capture fully as many striped bass, especially in the lower 

 Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and in Suisun bay. The striped 

 bass that are taken in their nets are dead when brought to the surface, 

 consequently they have no value as spawn producers, and if the 

 fisherman were not allowed to dispose of them it would mean that in a 

 single day tons of a valuable food supply would be thrown away. In 

 view of these facts, it appears to us that no argument can be advanced 

 which would justify the establishment of a close season, other than the 

 one already referred to of strictly enforcing the letter of the law in 

 respect to Saturday and Sunday fishing. 



