28 



DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME 



greater than the 38-year average of 2,050,000 pounds 

 and marked the first time landings passed the 1,000,000- 

 pound mark since the Legislature enacted restrictions 

 limiting the activity of the commercial river fishery 

 in 1952. 



Increased gill net landings in 1955 were made pos- 

 sible by a major change in gear. Nylon webbing for 

 nets almost completely replaced linen webbing, with 

 a result that the nets were lighter, stronger and re- 

 quired much less care. Using nylon, commercial men 

 found they could fish deeper and during stronger tides 

 in Carquinez Straits than with linen nets. 



PACIFIC MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION 



The ever mounting pressure on salmon resources is 

 not limited to California waters, since the three Pacific 

 Coast States, Canada and Alaska are interested in the 

 problem. 



The work of all five on king and silver salmon 

 research has been coordinated under the Pacific Ma- 

 rine Fisheries Commission. This included a tagging 

 and recovery program involving relatively large 

 salmon, most of them over 20 inches in length. This 

 program alone has already demonstrated that interstate 

 cooperation is necessary if the salmon fisheries are to 

 survive. For example: From 30 to 60 percent of the 

 ocean catch of salmon spawned in the Sacramento 

 River has been made north of the Oregon line. 



Obviously, Oregon and Washington conservation 

 measures will affect the fishing pressure on these fish. 

 Conversely, much of California's silver salmon catch 

 comes from fish originating in Oregon streams. 



Studies Result in Action 



The combined studies showed that the rapidly de- 

 clining fall runs of king salmon in the Columbia River 

 were being too heavih' exploited in the troll fishery 

 from Oregon north. To overcome this effect, the Pa- 

 cific Marine Fisheries Commission recommended that 

 the king salmon trolling seasons of Oregon and Wash- 

 ington be shortened, the open period to commence 

 April 15th. Formerly the northern season opened on 

 March 15th and extended to October 31st. For the 

 past eight years the California season has been from 

 May 1st to September 20th. 



The Oregon Fish Commission and the Washington 

 State Department of Fisheries (both of which had reg- 

 ulatory powers) acted on the above recommendation 

 in time for the 1956 season. 



The shortened season in the north has had a sec- 

 ondary effect of reducing the intensity of the ocean 

 fishery on the Sacramento, Klamath, and other runs of 

 California salmon which habitually move into northern 

 waters in numbers. 



MARKING PROGRAM 



California cooperated in the king salmon marking 

 program during the biennium when the Marine Fish- 



eries Branch completed the first of two operations 

 designed to determine the importance of Sacramento 

 River kings to the coastwide fisheries and to California 

 river fisheries and to show the relationship of the 

 spawning stock to productivity. 



In the first phase of the marking program approxi- 

 mately 4,500 marked salmon were recovered out of 

 4/0,000 marked and released as fingerlings early in 

 1950. They were taken as 2, 3, 4 and 5 year-old fish 

 from 1951 through 1954. Recovery crews searched 

 for these marks from California to Alaska under the 

 coordination of the Pacific A4arine Fisheries Com- 

 mission. 



Only one marked fish survived to spawn for every 

 three that were caught. Of those caught, two-thirds 

 were landed by ocean commercial troUers. The ma- 

 jority of these troUer catches were made off Oregon, 

 Washington, or Vancouver Island, B. C. 



The second phase of these experiments began in 

 1952 and was similar to the first one. Tentative results 

 indicate that less than two-thirds of the second group 

 of fish was caught north of California. 



These experiments, coupled with similar ones in 

 Oregon and Washington, have demonstrated that a 

 change in the salmon producing potential of one state 

 can affect the fisheries of other states— a fact of very 

 important significance in the design of conservation 

 and management measures. 



CONTINUING INVESTIGATIONS 



California's contribution to the increasing knowl- 

 edge of the life history of the salmon and of sound 

 management practices of the salmon and steelhead 

 fishery has been substantial. Both the .Marine Fisheries 

 and the Inland Fisheries Branches of the department 

 have been actively engaged during the biennium in in- 

 vestigating the mysterious ways of these migrants, as 

 well as in management work designed to protect the 

 fisheries. 



Standard tools used by the Marine Fisheries Branch 

 in its annual salmon checking operations are spawning 

 stock survej's and sampling of catches. 



Spaucning Stock Surveys— Annual inventories of sal- 

 mon spawning stocks are taken to determine the status 

 of the resource and the escapement to the various con- 

 tributing river systems. 



During the fall and winter of 1954-55, nearly 47,000 

 salmon were examined in the rivers of the central 

 valleys; in 1955-56 over 25,000 were examined. 



Salmon and steelhead lagging operations at the Fremont Weir on the 

 Sacramento River near Verona. 



CFish and Game Photo) 



