FORTY-FOURTH BIENNIAL REPORT 



55 



be properly coordinated and the Pacific Marine Fish- 

 eries Commission has accepted the responsibility for 

 this job, and is continuing to act as the clearing house 

 for the exchange of albacore data among the interested 

 agencies. 



SARDINES 



Sardines, virtually absent during 1952 and 1953, 

 again appeared in Southern California waters. Cali- 

 fornia's purse seine fleet took 64,000 tons during the 

 1954-55 season and 75,000 tons in the 1955-56 season. 

 These landings, although a sizable increase over the 

 two previous years of complete failure, were a far cry 

 from even poor seasons during the "hey day" of the 

 fishery. Optimism expressed in some quarters that 

 California's sardines have once again returned home 

 is not justified by the available evidence. 



Historically, from 1916 to the present, the Cali- 

 fornia sardine industry has depended upon rather pre- 

 dictable on-shore movements of adult fish after their 

 off-shore spawning. During the peak of the industry 

 this spawning occurred as far north as British Co- 

 lumbia. After spawning, the adult fish moved in-shore 

 and traveled south along the coast at \\ hich time they 

 were available to the purse seiners. 



With the series of poor spawning years beginning 

 in the late 1940's, coupled with a continuing heavy 

 fishing pressure, the stock of fish north of Baja Cali- 

 fornia was reduced progressively each year. The pinch 

 was f.elt first in the north where the largest oldest fish 

 w ere normally taken. 



The fisheries in British Columbia, Washington and 

 Oregon failed in the late 1940's and by 1951, Mon- 

 terey's once large industry was no more. By 1952 the 

 San Pedro fishery was almost as completely dead as 

 Monterey's. 



A purse seine net puller, developed and patented during the biennium, 



enables the fnherman to purse and pull an empty net in as little as 



15 minutes, a task that formerly required as much as three hours, 



(Fish and Game Photo by Anita Daugherty) 



Aw€ ScUt CcUc^ 



* Including sardines, anchoWes and young of other fish. 

 ** These figures include Party Boat and Charter Boat .\nglers only. 



No Mexican Shift 



The California fish did not travel away from Cali- 

 fornia waters to other geographical areas. There was 

 no compensating increase in Mexico's sardine popula- 

 tion to indicate that the sardines shifted bodily to the 

 south. California sardines no longer existed, except in 

 cans, meal and oil. 



Then in 1954 and again in 1955 fish from Mexico 

 shifted northward and spawned as far north as Point 

 Conception. By the time these Mexican fish moved 

 inshore and south the fishing fleet was ready for them, 

 even before they had spawned. Boats from the idle 

 Monterey fleet moved south and joined the San Pedro 

 boats. Airplane spotters had now joined to help the 

 fleet and fish were taken both day and night. 



As vet there is no evidence that California's sardine 

 population has become re-established. The young fish 

 spawned in California waters by Mexican fish in the 

 last two years do not appear yet to constitute even 

 average size classes for this region. There have been 

 no outstanding or even good spawnings of sardines 

 in Baja California to compensate for the loss of Cali- 

 fornia's fish. Actually, the sardine population for the 

 coast as a whole is probably now not far above its 

 lowest level. 



Sound Conservation Needed 



It becomes abundantly clear that sound conservation 

 practices are needed in the sardine fishery if ever these 

 fish are to return to their former abundance and range. 

 Until the catch is limited to a reasonable percentage 

 of what is available and until nature provides condi- 

 tions for good spawning survival the fishery cannot 

 improve substantially. The Pacific Northwest and 

 even Monterey can expect no great fishery until Cali- 

 fornia's offshore spawning population is once again 

 re-established. 



During the biennium the California Cooperative 

 Fisher\ Investigation research team has greatly in- 



