FORTY-SECOND BIENNIAL REPORT 65 



Of the research work done on the bottom fisheries, the exploratory 

 work on the N. B. Scofield during this biennium has yielded results of 

 considerable importance to the State of California. The exploratory 

 work was directed towards the discovery and determining the extent 

 of the latent shrimp and prawn (genus Pandalus) resource off the Cali- 

 fornia coast. Several exploratory and census trips were made on the 

 N. B. Scofield, and portions of the waters from the Santa Barbara 

 Channel to the Oregon border were explored. Beds of shrimp off Pt. 

 Buchon, Bodega Bay, Shelter Cove, and Pt. St. George, comprised about 

 200 square miles upon which shrimp were known to exist. Much of the 

 area off the coast still remains to be explored, as only the most promising 

 regions were worked on the previous surveys. 



Legislation sponsored by the Department of Fish and Game fostered 

 the development of a new industry in this field where formerly none 

 had existed. Regulatory measures to insure the perpetuation of the 

 fishery were established, and the industry was born under modest 

 circumstances. The fishing gear used by the industry was patterned 

 after that developed by the department personnel in the exploratory 

 work. Two boats were at work on the beds off Pt. Buchon at the close 

 of the biennium, and were averaging better than 500 pounds per hour 

 of trawling. Introductory attempts were being made on the Bodega and 

 Pt. St. George areas. The industry has established itself in Morro Bay 

 and San Luis Obispo where about 75 people are engaged in the pro- 

 duction of the finished product. Through the exploratory work of the 

 department, a new industry and new wealth has been added to the 

 State's resources. The catch as of June 30, 1952, only three months after 

 opening of the season, has amounted to over 89,000 pounds. 



SARDINES 



At the close of the last biennium (1949-50) the sardine (Sardinops 

 caerulea) industry was experiencing a slight recovery from the poor 

 fishing of 1947-48 and 1948-49. This recovery continued through the 

 next season, 1950-51, but in 1951-52 the catch again dropped to the level 

 of 1947-48 and at the close of the present biennium the outlook for this 

 fishery is poor indeed. 



Investigations of the sardine population are being continued by the 

 California Cooperative Sardine Research Program which represents 

 the joint efforts of California Department of Fish and Game, California 

 Academy of Sciences, Hopkins Marine Station, Scripps Institution of 

 Oceanography, and U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In the cooperative 

 program our department made assessments of the abundance of sardines 

 by age groups during the fall of 1950 and 1951 in the waters off Cali- 

 fornia and Baja California. These indicated a scarcity of sardines 

 resulting from spawnings in 1949, 1950 and 1951, which accounts, in a 

 large measure, for the renewed decline of the catch in 1951-52. The results 

 of these measures of abundance were published in Fish Bulletin No. 87. 



In addition to these surveys of population abundance, the routine 

 studies of size of sardines in the catch and average monthly catch of the 

 fishermen have been continued. In cooperation with the U. S. Fish and 



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