54 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



Several seizures were made. The principal one involved the capture, 

 by our deputies, of 134 bags or about 50 tons of dried shrimps and 

 shrimp shells, which were offered for shipment as "dried fish" and 

 " fertilizer." The Chinese were arrested, convicted, and fined upwards 

 of $200, besides paying expensive attorneys' fees. 



After this bill became a law, the managers of every transportation 

 company were served with a special notice calling attention to it, and 

 each and every one informed us by mail or personally that they would 

 use their best efforts to assist us in securing a strict compliance with the 

 law; and now when " fertilizer " or "dried fish " or " seaweed " is offered 

 for shipment, they require declaration to be made that the packages 

 contain no dried shrimps or shrimp shells. As the shrimps are shipped 

 in large bags much the same in appearance as wool bags, detection is 

 comparatively easy, and since the important seizure was made, which 

 represented many months of catch, we are satisfied none have been 

 either shipped or offered for shipment. 



We regret that we have no statutory power to confiscate and destroy 

 the shrimps and shells that are seized for violation of the law. This 

 would in most cases be a heavier penalty than the one imposed by 

 the courts. The 134 sacks already mentioned were, by order of the 

 court, returned to the defendants, after they had plead guilty and paid 

 their fines. We kept track of them and found that the shrimp shells 

 were disposed of to a fertilizing plant in San Francisco, to be mixed 

 with loam and sold as a fertilizer in this State, which is still further 

 evidence that they have given up all hope of exporting them. 



While the number of boats have decreased fully one half since this law 

 went into effect, it does not represent all the decrease. Formerly all the 

 boats in the shrimp business used five men each to operate the nets and 

 usually worked a day and night crew, in addition to which there was a 

 gang whose business it was to boil, separate, and dry the catch. Some 

 of the boats now operate but four men, and work but one shift, and only 

 during one tide; in other words, the number of men employed in the 

 shrimp business has been reduced fully three fourths. As the camps 

 remaining are all engaged in the fresh shrimp business, their efforts 

 are directed toward catching the larger shrimps, which are used for 

 fresh market purposes, and are found in the deeper waters, consequently 

 the catching of small fish is reduced to the minimum Therefore, in our 

 judgment, the present law is successfully carrying out the purpose for 

 which it was framed. It permits our people to have fresh shrimps 

 twelve months in the year without detriment to other fishery interests, 

 and prevents the exportation of dried shrimps and shrimp shells, and 

 has also reduced the number of boats and men to a number which, in 

 our opinion, can work no injury whatever to the larger fishery interests 

 of the State. 



