58 REPORT OF THE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



To gatlier the statistics of the catch, to register the boats and fishing 

 gear and to do the necessary tabulating, has necessitated putting on an 

 extra assistant in tlie branch offices of the Department of Commercial 

 Fisheries in San Diego, San Pedro and Monterey, as well as an extra 

 statistical assistant in the San Francisco office. It is difficult to estimate 

 the cost of this system of gathering the records of the catch as each 

 statistical assistant has other duties to perform which have little to do 

 with statistics and as assistants in other lines give some help 

 in gathering the records. But, as we have had several inquiries as 

 to the cost of the system, we have estimated it as near as we can. The 

 books of receipts which are furnished the dealers and packers are cost- 

 ing us approximately $485 a year. It will be fair to charge to the sys- 

 tem the services of one assistant at the four fishing centers, San Diego, 

 San Pedro, Monterey and San Francisco, which with traveling expenses 

 will amount to approximately $650 a month. Any state adopting the 

 system would require one assistant at each fishing center. Each should 

 have a suitable place to Avork upon the tabulations and should be pro- 

 vided with adding machines. This covers only the cost of gathering the 

 records and roughly tabulating them. To work out the boat catches 

 for conservation purposes is work for the investigator. A proper place 

 should be provided for storing the triplicate receipts in such a manner 

 that they may be readily accessible for future study and w^here they 

 will be safe from destruction or damage. On account of the large 

 number of small boats fishing, California uses more triplicate receipt 

 books than would be used where larger catches per boat are made. 



INVESTIGATION. 



Our statistical program is only a part of the work. While it is the 

 basis upon which much of the work of the investigator must rest, it 

 must be supplemented by a study of the biology of the species upon 

 which our principal fisheries depend. The investigations are not being 

 conducted merely through a scientific interest in the species dealt with; 

 they are conducted for the primary purpose of conservation and the 

 intelligent expansion of the fisheries. The investigations are all based 

 on the needs of the fisheries and in all there is a well defined program 

 which has been arrived at through the experiences of fisheries investiga- 

 tors of this and other countries. The object and method of the investi- 

 gation work has been stated very fully in the Fish and Game Commis- 

 sion's Fish Bulletin No. 2 by W. F. Thompson, entitled "The Scientific 

 Investigation of Marine Fisheries, as Related to the AVork of the Fish 

 and Game Commission in Southern California." We will not discuss 

 here the needs of scientific investigations or the methods of the work as 

 they are given full treatment in this Bulletin. 



