REPORT OP THE PISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



99 



coast in inducing the public to eat the sea mussel, for the Indians for 

 some reason shunned it, preferring the mud clam, of which there was 

 plenty. On our coast there can not be this prejudice, for the Indians 

 along our entire coast subsisted mainly on them. There is an almost 

 unlimited supply of these mussels and if it becomes necessary the pro- 

 duction can be increased. We have, besides the large sea mussel, two 

 species of smaller mussels that are found in the quieter waters of the 

 bays and in estuaries at the mouths of streams. These species are occa- 

 sionally found in the markets. We expect to start an educational 

 campaign to induce the people to make use of these valuable shellfish. 



Fig. 60. Point Lobos Abalone Cannery. Cleaning abalones at Point Lobos Cannery. Photo- 

 graphs by H. B. Nidever. 



Recommendations. 

 We recommend that our system of taxing the fi.sheries be revised. 

 Under the present system the revenue is derived from market fisher- 

 men's licenses, wholesale fish dealers' licenses and from fines imposed. 

 The annual revenue from these licenses is about $40,000, which is not 

 nearly adequate to cover the present expense of commercial fisheries 

 patrol, propagation of commercial fishes and investigation work. A 

 market fisherman now pays ten dollars a year and a wholesale fish dealer 

 pays five dollars per year. Under this system the poorest clam digger 

 pays double the license paid by the largest wholesale dealer or canner. 

 The tax on dealers is ridiculously small, while ten dollars is too much 

 for many of the fishermen. California is behind the other states and 

 other countries in the matter of taxing its commercial fisheries and the 

 main reason our fisheries have not advanced more rapidly is that the 

 state has not had sufficient money for its commercial fisheries work. The 

 system employed in Oregon, Washington and Alaska, as well as in most 

 of the Atlantic states, is to tax the fishermen according to the apparatus 

 they use and the canners, packers and wholesale dealers according to the 

 amount of fish they handle, and where oyster and clam beds are con- 

 trolled by individuals the beds are taxed according to their yield. This 

 system is more just and equitable and will yield a larger revenue. With 



