REPORT OF THE PISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 91 



The amount of halibut taken by California fishermen between Octo- 

 ber 1, 1915, and June 30, 1916, was 3,951,690 pounds. Of this amount 

 1,668,814 pounds were takeu in Mexican waters. 



Crabs. 



Crabs taken at San Francisco during the open season 1914^-1915 

 (November 15th to July 30th) amounted to 49,716 dozens; for the 

 corresponding season of 1915-1916, 40,370 dozens. Crabs taken in 

 Monterey Bay during season 1915-1916 amounted to 15,037 dozens and 

 those taken in Del Norte and Humboldt counties during the same 

 season, 5,114 dozens. 



Crabs, we believe, are adequately protected by the present law, under 

 which the marketing or possession of female crabs or the marketing 

 or possession of any male crab under seven inches in width is prohibited 

 and a closed season is provided from July 31st to November 14th. 

 With this protection there can be no serious depletion of the crabs, for a 

 sufficient amount of breeding stock is preserved and the fishing, no 

 matter how intense, can not go beyond the limit of the natural annual 

 increase of these crustaceans. The San Francisco fishery seems to have 

 reached this limit and toward the end of the season the fishermen are 

 not able to find enough legal crabs to supply the market. During the 

 closed season that follows, the crabs cast their shells and increase their 

 size about one-fourth, so that on the opening of the season on Novem- 

 ber 15th the legal sized male crabs are plentiful again. 



The crab fishery in Monterey Bay has had a remarkable development. 

 Only two or three years ago there were so few crabs in that bay that it 

 did not pay to fish for them. During the last open season, as will be 

 seen from the figures above, over 15,000 dozens were taken. In con- 

 trast to this is the crab fishery of Humboldt County which produced 

 less than one-third this amount. The reason for this is not the scarcity 

 of crabs, but the fact that there is a county ordinance prohibiting the 

 shipment of crabs out of Humboldt County. As already stated, our 

 present state laws adequately protect the crabs, and to prohibit ship- 

 ment from the county gives the crabs more protection than they need 

 and prevents the development of a valuable industry. Under this 

 restriction the crabs are extremely abundant and of large size, one- 

 fourth of those caught running over eight inches in width. The fisher- 

 men instead of getting $2.00 per dozen, as do the San Francisco 

 fishermen, get less than $1.00 per dozen. It is estimated that this fishery 

 could supply annually at least 30,000 dozen crabs, for which the fisher- 

 men would receive $60,000, if they were given access to outside markets, 

 instead of less than $5,000 as at present. 



