112 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



From our experience with these two attempts of floating reduction 

 plants to operate on sardines beyond the jurisdiction of the state, we 

 are sure that such a plant can not be operated at a profit off the coast 

 of this state because of the high overhead cost and the uncertainty of 

 the sardine supply due to rough weather and the erratic appearance of 

 these fish in the open ocean beyond the protection of bays. 



SALMON 



While our fisheries as a whole are in a healthy condition, it cannot be 

 said that our oldest fishery, that of the salmon, shares this condition. 

 The most important conservation problem having to do with fish or 

 game in this state is that of saving what is left of the Sacramento 

 salmon. 



We have repeatedly called attention to the fact that the salmon of 

 the Sacramento River are not being given sufficient protection and that 

 this valuable natural resource of the state is fast being destroyed. The 

 legislature has been told that if these salmon are not given more pro- 

 tection they will soon become commercially extinct. We have pointed 

 out that the run on the river is only five per cent of what it was twenty 

 j^ears ago ; that the hatcheries on the river can not obtain enough eggs 

 with which to run them at even ten per cent of their capacity. At each 

 session of the legislature for the past twelve years the Fish and Game 

 Commission has sponsored bills which would have given these fish at 

 least a measure of the protection needed, but in no instance was it pos- 

 sible to get more than a very small portion of the protection asked for. 



At the last session the Commission was sponsor for a bill which would 

 have eliminated sea trolling for salmon. It was pointed out that the 

 salmon supply had been so diminished that to fish for them, in both the 

 sea and the river, was fast destroying the supply, and to save the rem- 

 nant that was left, one or the other method of fishing should be stopped. 

 As the river fishing has more to commend it than the sea trolling, we 

 proposed that trolling be stopped. 



The measures embodied in this bill were endorsed by the Associated 

 Sportsmen's Clubs and included a prohibition of all salmon spearing. 

 For a number of years salmon spearing had been stopped in all but the 

 extreme northern half of the state. When the several salmon bills came 

 up for consideration before the Assembly Fish and Game Committee, 

 this bill was not given a hearing and it had to give way to a bill spon- 

 sored by San Joaquin Valley sportsmen's clubs, member clubs of the 

 state organization but whose only desire was to have the law changed 

 so as to permit salmon spearing in their part of the state. Instead of 

 advancing, we took a step backward. The committee consented to 

 amendments for the purpose of confining spearing to a season when the 

 salmon are in good condition to eat, and thus prevent the killing and 

 discarding of fish which are not fit to eat although they may be of the 

 greatest value for the purpose of reproducing the race. The committee 

 also accepted amendments to prevent the spearing or killing of salmon 

 on spawning beds, but it would not accept an amendment which, as a 

 compromise, would have stopped sea trolling for salmon south of Men- 

 docino County. 



Due to the confusion caused by numerous changes in the bill as it 

 progressed through the two houses and the two committees, in an effort 



