38 



FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



Mackerel Investigations 



The loss of the staff working on Central Valleys and salmon investi- 

 gations required another shift in the personnel. It has been necessary 

 to suspend most of the mackerel investigations and to shift that personnel 

 to the salmon work. Sampling of the mackerel catch has been maintained 

 at San Pedro and at Newport. 



Mackerel tagging was greatly reduced. From November, 1942, to 

 March, 1943, 2,474 fish were tagged at Catalina, 1,361 at Newport, and 

 2,536 in Santa Monica Bay. 



The numbers of mackerel tags recovered from different sections of 

 the coast during the biennium are shown in the table below. 



TABLE VII 



1942-43 1943-U 



Recovered Recovered 



Central Southern Central Southern 



Released Calif. Calif. Calif. Calif. 



Oregon —  — — 1 



Central California * 5 23 — 5 



Southern California t 10 399 29 237 



Mexico I 3 75 5 28 



Total 18 497 34 271 



* Monterey to San Francisco 

 t Santa Barbara to San Diego 

 t West Coast Lower California 



CENTRAL VALLEYS AND SALMON INVESTIGATIONS 

 Tagging 



Salmon tagging with numbered celluloid button tags fastened below 

 the dorsal fin was started off the coast of California in 1939 and was 

 carried through the fall of 1942. A total of 1,765 fish were tagged from 

 chartered trolling boats in 3942. Sufficient personnel was not available 

 to expand the effort required to obtain quantitatively significant returns. 

 Only 143 tags were recovered in 1942, and 31 in 1943. Salmon have been 

 retaken that have borne their tags for three years. 



Migrant Counts 



Counts of the adult salmon were made in 1942 on the following 

 streams : Trinity Eiver at Hoopa, American River at Folsom Dam, as 

 well as at a rack established near Sacramento, the Tuolumne River at 

 Modesto, and on the Mokelumne River at "Woodbridge Dam. Estimates 

 of numbers spawning in the San Joaquin River were made by surveys 

 of the spawning areas below Friant Dam. 



The 1942 estimates and counts made on these rivers are as follows : 



Tuolumne River , 44,494 



American River (Folsom) . 1.888 



Mokelumne River (Woodbridge) 12,119 



Trinity River l.i;;7 



San Joaquin (approximate) 6,000 



None of these counts except that on the Tuolumne are considered to be 

 accurate. The count on the Trinity depended upon the installation of 

 a weir by the Indians at the Hoopa Indian Reservation. The weir was 

 not installed until late in the year ; and it washed out with the first large 

 freshet. No estimate of the run that passed this point, either before or 

 after the weir was in place, was obtained. 



