dismissed b>' the courts, or in which the defendant 

 was found not guilt\' after a trial, amounted to 172— 

 only .94 of 1 percent. 



LOADED GUNS TOP OFFENSES 



\ table in this section lists fish and game offenses 

 b\ t>pe during the biennium. Although arrests for 

 angling without a license were the largest single type 

 of offense, as usual, it is noteworthy that loaded guns 

 in motor vehicles accounted for the appearance of 

 2,67.'> persons in court. 



Incredible as it ma>' seem, an average of more than 

 three persons each day during the two-year period 

 deliberately risked their lives and the lives of others 

 for the doubtful expediency of convenience or haste. 



Sales by public auction of hunting and fishing equip- 

 ment ordered forfeited by the courts as a result of con- 

 \iction of fish and game violations, as well as revenues 

 derived from the sale of confiscated fish, totaled $39,- 

 257.71. Of this amount, $20,623.15 was received from 

 the sale of fish and lobsters taken illegally, while an 

 additional $2,612 was deposited in the Fish and Game 

 Preservation Fund as the result of the sale of nets 

 seized in Southern California waters and later awarded 

 tfi the Department of Fish and Game by superior 

 court action. 



Neither arrest records nor statistics of fines, jail 

 sentences and other penalties give an adequate view 

 of the work of California's wardens in the law en- 

 forcement phase of their activities. Program cost 

 figures developed in 1955 showed that wardens devote 

 approximately 70 percent of their total work load to 

 law encorcement. The Department of Finance showed 

 that wardens in 1954 worked an average day in excess 

 of 1 2 hours, without compensation for any time given 

 in excess of the required eight hours. There has been 

 no change in the wardens' activities which would 

 account for a reduction in the number of uncompen- 

 sated hours put in since that time. On horseback, in 

 autos, by boat and airplane, wardens covered hundreds 

 of thousands of miles, many of them in remote and 

 uninhabited areas, in making their rounds of Cali- 

 fornia's fish and game areas. Much of the time the 

 warden was necessarily alone, performing his job 

 creditably under often difficult conditions. 



FISH PATROL 



Significant changes occurred in the habits of Cali- 

 fornia's fishermen during the biennium, and peremp- 

 tory attention was focused on ultimate development 

 of the State's water resources. New fisheries, length- 

 ening of the seasons and enlargement of areas in which 

 anglers could successfully pursue their sport, gained 

 rapidly in popularity. 



Critical water shortages in Southern California, 

 coupled with that area's huge increase in hunting and 

 fishing license holders, resulted in changed patrol pat- 

 terns bv both land and marine wardens. 



Marine warden in acfion in Southern California. 



CFish and Game Photo) 



As a number of reservoirs and streams dropped to 

 such low water levels that fishing activities were either 

 curtailed or halted, land patrol effort was shifted to 

 newly developed reservoirs and more stable existing 

 impoundments where new angling pressures built up. 



MARINE ACTIVITIES INCREASE 



Marine patrol acquired additional burdens as many 

 Southern Californians turned from the dwindling in- 

 land waters to the ocean for their fishing recreation 

 and the increasing dollar value of some scarce com- 

 mercial fish species spurred the catch efforts of the 

 commercial fishing fleet. Large ocean areas off the 

 south coast, where the use of nets is either restricted 

 or banned, required constant attention by patrol craft. 



Market conditions in the tuna industry made the 

 landing of undersize tuna attractive to boat and can- 

 nery operators, but heavy patrol was maintained and 

 over 200,000 pounds of undersize tuna were seized 

 and given to charitable and public institutions during 

 the biennium. 



Many Southern Californians who turned to ocean 

 sport fishing were new residents from states where 

 ocean angling is not available or where an ocean an- 

 gling license is not required. This unfamiliarity with 

 California law by newly arrived citizens caused ma- 

 rine w ardens to spend a large amount of time in the 

 enforcenient of angling license laws. In Southern Cali- 



