4 



i_i i; 



Pacific mackerel being bailed from scoop boat to conveyor belt at a 

 Newport Beach cannery. Note barrels of chum at the stern. 



ent of these packs but in 1953 a ready supply of this 

 species \\ as not available. This resulted in the increased 

 use of anchovies for pet food. Thus, the anchovy to- 

 day is the primary species used in the bait and chum 

 fisheries of the State, in the export market of "sardine 

 style" packs, and supplies an important part of the 

 fishes used in pet food. 



Rapid development of the anchovy fishery is shown 

 clearly in the catch figures. Since 1945, the year before 

 canning of anchovies was started, the catch has in- 

 creased from about two million pounds to about 100 

 million (including both commercial and live bait) in 

 195.3. Total catch figures prior to 1948 do not include 

 estimates of the poundage of anchovies taken for live 

 bait purposes. Since 1948 in some years the take of 

 anchovies for live bait has been more than the take for 

 commercial purposes. 



Efficient Methods 



With the development of the anchovy fishery there 

 has developed revolutionary and highly eflicient meth- 

 ods of capture and processing. The anchovy is a deli- 

 cate!>- textured fish and care must be taken to make the 

 pack presentable and to meet the stiff case pack re- 

 quirements put into effect in 1948 by the then Division 

 of Fish and Game. 



A new stj'le lampara net called the Porter seine 

 (named after one of the principal inventors of the net) 

 was developed in order to more efficiently work in the 

 daytime in cooperation with aerial observers ^\■ho di- 

 rect the actions of the boat in catching the fish. This 

 method of "airplane fishing" has been developed to its 

 highest efficiency in the Port Hueneme-Santa Barbara 

 area of Southern California, where the bulk of the high 

 catch of 1953 was made. The now limited amount of 

 anchovy fishing in Central California .still is being con- 

 ducted by the boats using purse seines and Monterey- 

 style lampara nets. Fishing in this area still is carried 

 on at night, for daytime airplane fishing is impractical 

 in the Central California area due to frequent periods 

 of foggy weather. 



Possibility of a future stable market for anchovy 

 products is good if the stocks of anchovies hold up 

 under the present fishing pressure. 



Investigations of the department are aimed at ob- 

 taining facts on which management of the species can 

 be based, and to inform the people of conditions in this 

 important fishery. These investigations already have 

 shown that the anchovy, a valuable forage fish, should 

 be kept at high levels of abundance to provide feed 

 for larger fish and bait for commercial and sports fish- 

 ing. 



PACIFIC MACKEREL 



While the attention of the Pacific Coast fishing in- 

 dustry focused on the spectacular failure of the Cali- 

 fornia sardine, a similar decline in the Pacific mackerel 

 fishery, although not unnoticed, failed to cause any 

 great alarm. 



In spite of increased fishing intensity, the catch of 

 Pacific mackerel in the 1952-53 season dropped to the 

 lowest total in 20 seasons. Continued heavy fishing 

 pressure during the 1953-54 season resulted in only 

 one-third of the poor catch of the previous season and 

 a new record low during 26 seasons. Not since 1928, 

 when the Pacific mackerel first became prominent as a 

 cannery species, had the yield from California waters 

 been less than 10,000,000 pounds. 



A successful fishing season becomes more and more 

 dependent upon incoming year classes. This is vividly 

 illustrated by the fact that for five seasons, 1948-49 

 through 1952-53, two year classes (1947 and 1948) 

 alone contributed more than 75 percent of the fish 

 caught. During two of these seasons these two year 

 classes made up more than 90 percent and during two 

 others over 85 percent of the total catch. By the 1953- 

 54 season these year classes had been almost completely 

 exhausted (contributing but 5 percent). They were 

 replaced in importance by the mackerel hatched in 

 1953, which before they were one year of age had 

 yielded over 80 percent of the season's catch. 



Shift Is Reflected 



This shift in percentage from old to young fish is 

 especially reflected in the poundage yield. During both 

 the 1952-53 and 1953-54 seasons nearly an identical 

 number of fish were taken (14,200,000 and 14,800,- 

 000). However, in 1952-53 the fish five and six years 

 of age (85 percent in numbers) made up 89 percent of 

 the total poundage. On the other hand the 1953 year 

 class which made up 82 percent of the 14,800,000 

 Pacific mackerel caught during 1953-54 actually com- 

 prised but 57 percent of the 7.6 million pounds. 



Routine sampling of the commercial catch con- 

 tinued whenever fish were available, and from this 

 sampling much of the basic information for the 

 numerous biological studies is acquired. 



The department recommended a management plan 

 for mackerel along with sardines to the 1953 Legis- 

 lature, but it did not receive favorable consideration. 



