FORTY-FIFTH BIENNIAL REPORT 11 



The purpose of the increased fees was to permit the department to operate in the black, gradually 

 build up its surplus fund and to provide for expansion of programs. 



The first full year under the new revenues found license sales decreasing in numbers from the 

 previous years, with the result that income has not been as great as anticipated when the legislation 

 was enacted. Nevertheless, the increases enabled the department to balance its budget (1959-60) 

 for the first time in five years. The dip in license sales may be only a temporary reaction to the 

 increased fees and may be due largely to the recession of early 1958. 



Netting Bill 



In point of interest, certainly the "hottest" bill of the 1957 legislative session was the anti-netting 

 bill. Sportsmen, who had been asking the Legislature for many years to remove the nets from the 

 lower Sacramento River, made a convincing presentation in the 1957 session. The result was that the 

 gill nets were permanently removed by law. The department took the position that the nets should 

 be removed because they were taking too many salmon bound for the spawning gravels, and that 

 the nets were their last and biggest obstacle. The department also pointed out that the nets were 

 killing too many striped bass while in the process of taking salmon. 



Water Rights 



Although fish, wildlife and recreation have long been considered beneficial users of water, the 1957 

 State Legislature put it in so many words when it directed the State Water Rights Board to consider 

 all beneficial uses — including fish, wildlife and recreation — in the course of its deliberations. This 

 was spelled out in Section 1257 of the State Water Code. 



A solid gain in the Water Projects field, and a harbinger of better things to come, was the decision 

 early in 1958 in the American River water hearing. The State Water Rights Board, in approving 

 permits for water diversion, prescribed conditions for adequate flows for maintenance and preserva- 

 tion of fish and wildlife. Even in dry years the flo\\'s will be adequate to protect fish life, particularly 

 below Nimbus Dam, for migrating and spawning salmon and steelhead. This was a new milestone 

 in the department's efltorts to assure perpetuation of California's fish and wildlife resources. It is, 

 further, one more indication of the wider acceptance being accorded to protection and preservation 

 of fish and wildlife. 



Ocean Habitat Project 



After considerable planning, the department began a project late in the biennium which was 

 designed to learn methods of improving ocean fishing. With the aid of federal funds, the Ocean 

 Fish Habitat Development Project began with the dumping of 20 old car bodies off Paradise Cove, 

 near Malibu, and a number of large, artificial rocks off Huntington Beach. They were dumped in 

 "desert" areas devoid of fish life to take advantage of the well known fact that fish tend to congre- 

 gate around sunken ships, rocks and other objects in the ocean. 



Administration 



A major reorganization of the marine fisheries section was effected during the biennium. The 

 purpose was to streamline operations by realigning responsibilities and functions to provide for 

 greater all around efficiency. The reorganization relieved the Marine Fisheries Branch chief and his 

 staff of the responsibility for operations and enabled them to concentrate their attentions on the 

 highly important business of program planning and co-ordinating, and assisting the director with 

 legislative matters pertaining to marine fisheries. Marine Resources Operations was given the opera- 

 tional status of a region and a regional manager was placed in charge. All salt water operations from 

 Crescent City to San Diego are his responsibility. Reporting to the regional manager are a staff of 

 two supervisors of investigation (one at Stanford and one at Terminal Island), a port captain, a 

 business services officer and a biostatistical supervisor. The new setup is working very well. 



