THIRTIETH BIENNIAL REPORT 115 



A short open season was also provided during part of the time the 

 spring run of salmon was on ; and a few years later, during the war, a 

 season from September 30 to November 1 was opened to permit the tak- 

 ing of silver salmon which enter the river later than the king run. 



In 1913 there were three salmon canneries on the river. A year or so 

 later the number was reduced to one and that has been the only cannery 

 on the river since, unless we count the two or three small, portable can- 

 neries termed "sportsmen's canneries" because they can salmon and 

 steelheads which the sportsmen catch. Under the law of 1913 the king 

 salmon run on the river increased, as was evidence by the increased 

 commercial catch coupled with an increasing egg yield at the Klamathon 

 station many miles up the river, where the eggs were taken from salmon 

 which escaped the nets or passed up during the closed seasons. The 

 fall king season closed on September 6, and it was believed that a suffi- 

 cient portion of the run entered the river after that date to spawn and 

 maintain the supply, even if all the salmon entering the river during 

 the open season should be caught. This belief was later justified by the 

 decided increase in the number of salmon in the river. 



At this time there was no sea trolling for salmon in that part of the 

 state to act as an added drain on the river's salmon supply. The high- 

 ways were yet so poor that it was not profitable for the San Francisco 

 fresh fish markets to draw on the river's supply of fish. Under these 

 conditions the fish supply of the river was actually being built up. 

 Later came the development of a salmon troll fishery out of Eureka, 

 whose field of operation gradually extended to the north until the Kla- 

 math's salmon were being caught in large numbers off the mouth of the 

 river. The improved roads have not only opened the river up to 

 sportsmen and subjected it to heavy fishing, but they have made it pos : 

 sible for fresh fish markets to send buyers to the river and to truck out 

 the salmon and steelheads. The scarcity of salmon in California, due 

 to the failing runs at Monterey and on the Sacramento, has added to 

 the zest with which they are sought in the Klamath and in the sea out- 

 side the mouth. The king run in the river has begun to show signs 

 of depletion. I am convinced that sea trolling is the principal cause of 

 this depletion and that the salmon in the river would have held their 

 own if it had not been for the development of the sea trolling off the 

 mouth of the river. 



A number of conservation measures have been passed by the legisla- 

 ture for the regulation of commercial fishing on the river. About six 

 years ago the spring salmon open season on the river was done away 

 with. Four years ago the late silver salmon season was taken out of the 

 law, and it w r as made unlawful to take steelheads in nets or to sell steel- 

 heads which have been taken any place in California. At the same time, 

 to prevent steelheads from being taken by the gill nets being used on 

 the lower Klamath River for salmon, the minimum size of the mesh 

 which may be used in the gill nets was raised from 6^ to 7-J inches. As 

 the steelheads running between July 1 and September 6, the present 

 netting season, are small, very few if any will be taken by the 7^-inch 

 gill nets. These measures which have been adopted should allay any 

 fear sportsmen may have had that the steelhead run on the river will 

 be damaged. There is no need to stop commercial fishing on the river 

 as far as steelheads are concerned. As for the salmon, they will get 



