FORTY-SECOND BIENNIAL REPORT 93 



it. Once plentiful along the entire Southern California coast, it is now 

 seldom taken except in the San Diego area. 



Since it is a commercial as well as sport fish, our Bureau of Marine 

 Fisheries has made some catch analyses. These, as long ago as 1933, 

 have indicated a decline. More recent studies of the sport catch have also 

 shown a downward trend. 



Following the first analyses the State began to restrict the commercial 

 catch by regulating seasons, gear, size, and quantity of catch. Despite 

 these restrictions the downward trend has persisted ; apparently they 

 have failed. These regulations are actually based on a very meager 

 knowledge. We do not know if they are really compatible with the biology 

 of the species or if they are well designed to give us the highest sustained 

 yield. We must first work out the life history of the yellowtail. For 

 example, we need to know whether we are entirely dependent upon resi- 

 dent fish or whether they move from areas of abundance to our own 

 heavily fished grounds. Their size at maturity, spawning season, and 

 fecundity should be determined, and their spawning and nursery grounds 

 should be discovered. Their age and rate of growth should be known. 

 The relationship between oceanographic conditions and their abundance 

 is important. 



Towards such ends does the project move. We plan to tag at least 

 10,000 fish, and as preliminary work are devising suitable tags and tech- 

 niques. The Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with the University 

 of Washington has tested the staying qualities of various tags in their 

 Avater tunnel. Other tests are being run in aquaria at the Scripps Insti- 

 tution of Oceanography. Three sea voyages have already been made to 

 Baja California to tag yellowtail under field conditions. 



Project F-2-R— A Study of the Catfish Fishery of California 



Catfish were introduced into California in 1874. Through successive 

 transplants and other introductions we now have five species established : 

 three bullheads (Ameiurus) , the channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) , 

 and the white catfish (7. catus), which is probably the most abundant 

 of all. 



As early as 1880 the State decided that they were so numerous and so 

 well distributed that the Fish Commission should turn its attention to 

 some "other equally valuable fish." At the same time, however, there 

 were frequent criticisms of these newcomers by an articulate public 

 which claimed that the "hated catfish" would destroy our native fish 

 and which even disallowed the edibility of these "old toughs." 



The early antipathy has been softened by passing years and few today 

 would term them "hated." In fact, the sport fishery is now one of the 

 most important in California. In 1948, for example, it is estimated that 

 more than a quarter million anglers fished almost two million days for 

 catfish and caught more than five and a half million. Sport fishing is 

 concentrated in three areas: the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (where 

 about 50 percent of the catch is made), in Clear Lake, and along the 

 Colorado River. However, there is hardly a county in the State where 

 catfish are not to be found. 



