34 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



The catch of fish sold in the fresh state was 30,092,000 pounds in 

 1942, and 37,683,000 pounds in 1943. The increase in 1943 occurred 

 among a number of species, and probably reflects the adjustment of the 

 industry to war conditions. Some of the fishing grounds which were 

 closed in 1942 for defense purposes have again been opened. War 

 emergency restrictions on the movements of boats into and out of ports 

 have been somewhat relaxed, and readjustments in price ceilings have 

 encouraged fishermen to again seek species which were formerly priced 

 so low that it was unprofitable to bring them to port. 



One of the most interesting developments of the biennium was the 



heavy catch of albacore during 1943. The catch of this species for this 



year was the highest recorded since 1925. The albacore fishery developed 



gradually after the last World War, along the California coast until 



in 1925 a catch of 22,206,923 pounds was landed. In 1926 the albacore 



catch fell to 2,469,385 pounds and did not again reach the 1925 figure 



until 1943. The catch in California is, now, only a part of the total 



present production of albacore on the coast, since a considerable fishery 



has developed off the coasts of Oregon and Washington in the last ten 



years. 



COMMERCIAL FISHING LICENSES 



The record of licensed commercial fishermen in California for the 

 biennium, is shown in Table III. 



TABLE III 

 Licensed Commercial Fishermen 



19Jf2-l,3 19>,3-U 



licensed licensed 



Nativity fishermen fishermen 



United States 5,346 7,893 



Italy 1,197 1,374 



Jugoslavia 940 909 



Norway 461 360 



Portugal -_ 328 341 



Great Britain 187 239 



Sweden 85 94 



Mexico 68 62 



Spain — 57 59 



Denmark 45 61 



Finland 45 56 



Russia 45 64 



Greece 44 51 



Germany 34 5o 



Austria 29 



France 21 23 



Netherlands — 28 



All others 111 134 



Total - 9,043 11,803 



It is of interest to note that while the number of fishermen dropped 

 in the 1942-43 season, from the previous season, the number of commercial 

 fishing licenses sold in the 1943-44 season was the largest ever recorded 

 for this State. The decrease in 1942-43 was due in part to the loss of the 

 Japanese fishermen who were barred from operations off the coast. These 

 were only partially replaced by the other nationalities. 



