THIRTY-FIFTH BIENNIAL REPORT 59 



fishing- for sardines. In 1935, only eight years after this fishery 

 started to develop, fishermen brought to the canneries in southern Cali- 

 fornia and at IMonterey 146,427,000 pounds of mackerel. We were at 

 that time quite worried for fear that this heavy eatcli would deplete 

 the supply of fish. The fishery was yet so young and the investiga- 

 tions of the California State Fisheries Laboratory covered so few 

 years, we were without knowledge as to how much the fishery could 

 stand. However, we did recommend in our 1936 report that the Fish 

 and Game Commission should be given the power b>' the legislature 

 ''to regulate or limit the catch, in order that a reasonable annual catch 

 can be tried out and thus determine what the maximum production of 

 the fishery should be without depletion of the supply." As the 1937 

 legislature was being importuned to grant similar powers to the Com- 

 mission to save the sardine fishery from destruction, it was deemed 

 advisable not to ask the legislature for too much at one time. Sardines 

 being more important than mackerel at tlie time, no bill was pressed 

 on behalf of mackerel. As it happened, no legislation was obtained for 

 sardines, and it is doubtful if mackerel would have fared better. 



In 1936 the mackerel catch dropped from the high mark of 

 146,427,000 pounds of the year before to 100,541,800 pounds and in 

 1937 dropped still further to 60,936,700 pounds. This falling off in 

 the mackerel catch has been in spite of a continued good market, a 

 higher price paid to fishermen and more boats engaged in the fishery. 

 In other words, an increased fisliing effort failed to hold the produc- 

 tion at its former level. In the meantime the work of the California 

 State Fisheries Laboratory has shown up other signs of depletion. 

 Fishermen and canners have realized that tlie mackerel can not stand 

 this heavy strain, and at the rp(|uest of the Commission voluntarily 

 agreed to observe a two-month's closed season in the spring of 1938, 

 which was scrupulously observed by all. 



I recommend again that power be given the Commission by the 

 legislature to regulate or limit the catch of mackerel, as the best 

 method of managing this fishery. 



CONSERVATION 



The marine fisheries of California which annually produce com- 

 mercial fishery products valued at .$50,000,000 and support a sport fish- 

 ing industry of large proportions, have attained a plare among the 

 major industries of the State. Likewise, the fish along the coast of 

 California upon which this great industry depends constitutes one of 

 the State's most valuable resources. 



It is amongst the duties of the Division to gain a sufficient knowl- 

 edge of the fisheries to formulate fisheries management polit-ies to safe- 

 guard the fisheries of the State and at tlie same time to yet the most 

 possible from the fishery resources, without reducing the breeding 

 stock below the point where the fishery will produce a continuous 

 and sustained yield. 



The Division, through the Fish and C-ame Commission, can recom- 

 mend measures for the management of the fisheries which the legisla- 

 ture may enact into law. So far very few regulatory powers have 

 been given to the Commission. The Commission besides the authoritv 

 to employ assistants to gain the information upon which to manage the 

 fisheries, is charged with the duty of employing assistants to enforce 



