SALMON AND STEELHEAD 



A king salmon posses up o fish /odder of ihe Anderson-Collonwood irrigation dam neor Redding. (Pholo by Mike Hayden) 



The most important species affected by the many 

 water developments proposed or under way on the 

 State's streams are the salmon and the steelhead. 



Many dam projects would block spawning, migra- 

 tions to the upper reaches of Northern California 

 streams, and would thus effectively cut the life line 

 that insures natural propagation of the species. Con- 

 tinued insistence by the department on construction 

 of fish ladders, fish hatcheries and other fish-saving 

 devices wherever needed is designed to help minimize 

 losses of these species, which are valuable parts of 

 the State's economic picture. 



HIGHLY PRIZED GAME FISH 



Sooner or later most of the State's 1,300,000 anglers 

 want to try their hand at catching the big ones. Both 

 the salmon and the steelhead are highly prized game 

 fish of outstanding sporting quality. Fishermen seek 

 salmon mainly in the ocean and in the lower reaches of 

 the State's rivers. Steelhead are taken almost exclusive- 

 ly in fresh \\ater and provide fishing thrills well worth 

 the seeking. 



While it has not been possible to obtain precisely 

 the number or weight of salmon and steelhead caught 

 by sports fishermen, department postal card surveys 

 show that these species are caught in substantial num- 

 bers. These surveys, while not providing actual figures 

 in all instances, generally do indicate the trends from 

 year to year. 



In 1954, a postal card survey provided an estimate 

 of 800,000 salmon taken by anglers in that year. Of 

 these, sportsmen caught approximately three in the 

 ocean to every one in a stream. The steelhead catch 

 in 1954 was estimated at 342,000. 



Fishing resorts along the Smith, Klamath and Eel 

 Rivers and other northern streams cater almost exclu- 

 sively to salmon and steelhead fishermen, and a large 

 number of anglers who frequent resorts on the Sacra- 

 mento and San Joaquin Rivers also seek these species. 



Sport fishing for salmon in the ocean has been grow- 

 ing rapidly for the past several years and there is 

 every indication that the number of anglers partici- 

 pating in the sport will continue to increase. 



COMMERCIAL CATCH GREATER 



Sportsmen now take almost as many salmon as do 

 commercial fishermen. During the biennium, the com- 

 mercial ocean salmon catch off California was the 

 greatest on record. Commercial landings in 1954 

 reached a high of 8,600,000 pounds and were topped 

 in 1955 when 9,700,000 pounds of ocean-caught 

 salmon were landed. The two-year average (9,200,- 

 000 pounds) exceeded that of the previous two years 

 by 1,600,000 pounds and topped the previous 10-year 

 (1944-1953) average by 2,500,000 pounds. 



Though total salmon landings in the ocean have 

 increased to record heights, landings of silver salmon 

 have continued to drop each year since 1952. Increased 

 landings of king salmon have supported the expanded 

 fishery. (Table 38.) For many years silver salmon con- 

 tributed about 10 percent by weight to ocean salmon 

 landings in California; in 1954 they contributed 5 per- 

 cent and in 1955 only 3.5 percent. 



River Gill Netting 



Commercial gill net salmon landings in the Sacra- 

 mento River skyrocketed from 900,000 pounds in 1954 

 to 2,300,000 pounds in 1955. This was 250,000 pounds 



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