96 REPORT OF THE PISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



The species of kelp which is being harvested in California is the 

 Macrocystis pyrifera, which grows in long strands, from one to three 

 hundred feet in length, and is held to the rocky bottom by means of a 

 holdfast. The leaves float out on the surface of the water and are held 

 suspended by floats specially designed for the purpose. The plants 

 reproduce by spores, which lodge at the bottom, and start new plants, 

 and also by stooling or sending off branches from the stock near the 

 holdfast. If the top end of a plant is cut off, the rest of that particular 

 stalk ceases to grow, but the shorter branches, which are continually 

 arising from the base, soon grow up and take its place. Experiments are 

 now being conducted at La Jolla for the purpose of determining the 

 rate of growth of these plants and it is believed that the cutting of the 

 kelp near the surface will tend to make them stool so that the growth 

 will be increased by the cutting. 



The companies engaged in the cutting of kelp are all large companies 

 of proved business integrity and it is to their advantage not to de.stroy 

 the kelp beds, but to conserve them and cut them only as fast as they 

 will reproduce themselves. 



It is the desire of the federal government that the state enact laws 

 under which kelp beds may be leased or apportioned to operating com- 

 panies and under such regulations that the beds will furnish continuous 

 crops. 



It was believed by those who investigated the California beds under 

 the direction of the United States Department of Agriculture that there 

 was enough kelp from Point Concepcion to the Mexican line to supply 

 annually, without injury to the beds, all the potash used in the United 

 States. The amount used annually before the great war cut off the 

 supply from Germany was 300,000 tons, which, at antewar prices, was 

 worth $15,000,000. The cutting has now progressed until a few of the 

 beds have been cut over once and it has been determined that they are 

 not producing the quantity estimated in the survey. This shortage 

 may be as much as 50 per cent. It is believed that one reason of this is 

 that since the survey was made storms have reduced the beds and they 

 have not yet had time to reestablish themselves. The kelp harvesters 

 or reapers that so far have been devised fail to pick up much of the 

 kelp that is cut. This fault is overcome to a certain extent where one 

 reaper follows the other and picks up what is left. There has been a 

 good deal of complaint that the reapers cause large quantities of kelp to 

 drift onto the beaches, where it smells badly and causes flies to accumu- 

 late. In most cases where an investigation was made, the kelp on the 

 beaches was made up of the M^hole plants Avhich had been torn from the 

 bottom by the high tides and rough water. However, the whole kelp 

 problem needs to be thoroughly investigated and in the meantime such 

 regulatory laws as are obviously necessary should be passed. 



