A young market crab, H of on mch in width. At this stage the young 

 crabs are an important segment of the crab investigations. 



this vessel is placed in commission, it \\ill then be pos- 

 sible to continue the survey of the north coast in an 

 effort to evaluate the potential abalone resources of 

 the area. 



In an attempt to assess the take of abalones by 

 sportsmen, a check system was set up whereby an 

 actual count is made of the number of sportsmen fish- 

 ing for abalones at a representative locality during 

 periods of low tides. 



Since abalones inhabit the rocky shores from the 

 zone of high tide out to well over 200 feet, it is neces- 

 sary that the research team be qualified to dive. In 

 addition to the regular commercial type diving gear, 

 members qualified for the first time during the bien- 

 nium in use of the aqua-lung, having attended the 

 U. S. Navy's Diving School at the San Francisco 

 Naval shipyard where they received instruction in the 

 use of equipment used by the Navy's "Frogmen." The 

 frog-man type of equipment is especially valuable in 

 making exploratory- dives and underwater surveys. 

 Since the diver does not have to clamber up and over 

 rugged terrain, he can swim above such obstructions 

 and observe a wider field than the diver using con- 

 ventional gear. However, for tagging and several other 

 phases of the work, the use of commercial suit and 

 equipment has been found to be more desirable. 



Although sufficient evidence for conclusive proof 

 was una\ailable at the close of the biennium, several 

 general statements can be made concerning the find- 

 ings of the investigation. 



Along the north coast where activities have been 

 conducted, the total population of abalones has been 

 found to be less than was at first suspected. In addi- 

 tion, the greater number of these abalones are of small 

 size (i.e., less than 7% inches). There are locations in 

 which the general size appears to be larger than this, 

 but these are not common. Preliminary investigations 

 on the quality of the meat have been made and it has 

 been found that the majority of abalones obtained by 

 diving have a dark meat. The ocean bottom along this 

 area presents a rough and rugged terrain, dominated 

 by huge boulders, chasms, and rugged, rocky cliffs. 

 Especially disconcerting has been the scarcity of 



weather suitable for diving. An average of perhaps 

 three to four diving days per month during spring 

 and summer was typical. 



MARKET CRABS 



Landings of market crabs, while subjected to a con- 

 siderable increase in fishing pressure for the past sev- 

 eral years, showed an abrupt drop from the high of 

 13,000,000 pounds in 1952, but still well above the 30- 

 year average ending in 1945. 



In the San Francisco area the market crab fishery 

 showed annual landings of 4,000,000 pounds for the 

 past five years while the Eureka area brought in 

 double the poundage of the Central California fishery. 

 The drop from the 1952 high to. about 8,000,000 

 pounds in 1953 was due to a decrease in the north 

 coast landings as shown in the graph (Table 51, Ap- 

 pendix). Since a rather complete harvesting of avail- 

 able legal size crabs occurs each year, the drop may 

 be due t' a poor year class. It is also possible that this 

 mav be an indication that the fishery of Northern 

 California will level off at considerably lower annual 

 landings than the high peaks of recent years. 



Intensive fishing with crab traps is accomplishing an 

 intensive harvesting of the available marketable crabs 

 during the first few months of the crabbing season. 

 At San Francisco 83 percent of the crabs landed in the 

 1952-53 nine-month season were brought in during the 

 first three months of the season. The trend is the same 

 in Eureka where from 50 to 60 percent of a total 

 season's landings is accomplished in the first third of 

 the season, compared to about 35 percent as recently 

 as during the 1948-49 season. 



Specially designed crab traps with circular escape 

 openings are being demonstrated by the department 

 to show the value of improved gear in allowing rapid 

 escapement of undersized crabs while the trap is ac- 

 tively fishing on the ocean floor. 



Study of the early life history of the market crabs 

 in California waters was carried on to obtain data on 

 the populations of crabs less than one year of age, 

 since this supply of young will eventually replace the 

 size groups thoroughly harvested by the crab fishing 

 fleet. It is anticipated that the modem research vessel, 

 the Nautilus, using specially designed gear, will make 

 possible investigations of the crab fishery long desired 

 but not heretofore possible. 



OYSTER PROGRAM 



Unique in its outlook, the department's California 

 oyster program is not confronted with over-exploita- 

 tion of a resource, but in fostering establishment and 

 growth of a valuable fishery in areas formerly non- 

 productive. With a firm oyster policy and with new 

 regulations adopted in 1954 by the Fish and Game 

 Commission to encourage full utilization of natural 



