62 



DEPARTA4ENT OF FISH AND GAME 



A ihree-year-old silver salmon (12 pounds) returned from a planting in 

 the Sacramento River near Los Molinos. 



— Fish and Game Photo by Wm. Van Woert 



torn organisms from streams above and below logging 

 operations was started in the summer of 1958. The 

 principal effort has been to locate places where clear 

 comparisons of species and numbers of insects present 

 in streams above and belo\\', or before and after, log- 

 ging may be made to provide both a direct measure 

 of changes in a stream's productivity of fish food or- 

 ganisms, as well as possible indications of other en- 

 vironmental changes which would affect fish popula- 

 tions. This is part of the coastal streams salmon and 

 steelhead studies, financed by federal aid. 



New fish counting racks were installed on the 

 Shasta River in Siskiyou County. Counts of salmon 

 and steelhead were made on this river during the bien- 

 nium, as well as on a number of other important 

 spawning streams. Results from these counts are listed 

 in Table 37 in the Appendix. 



Fish Rescue 



Fish rescue crews salvaged totals of 6,519 king 

 salmon, 20,928 silver salmon, and 1,109,898 steelhead 

 from drying streams. These salvaged fish were trans- 

 planted to waters having a permanent flow, usually 

 in the same river system, where they could continue 

 their natural life cycle. Nearly all of the salmon and 

 steelhead salvage work was done in the northcoastal 

 counties. 



Size Regulations 



One objective of the Pacific Marine Fisheries Com- 

 mission is to develop a joint program of coastal regu- 

 lations as a means of promoting better utilization of 

 fisheries. 



At the start of the biennium some Pacific coastal 

 areas did not have ocean size limits on salmon, and 

 there was disagreement about whether size limits were 

 desirable. Opponents of size limits contended that re- 

 leased salmon suffered a high mortality; thus these fish 

 were, in fact, being wasted. Proponents thought that 

 even if high mortality occurred, and this had not been 

 proved to their satisfaction, a size limit still operated 

 as a conservation measure by forcing fishermen to 



avoid areas of concentrations of sublegal fish for eco- 

 nomic reasons. 



Size limit opponents countered by noting that per- 

 haps concentrations of sublegal fish are not common, 

 but that fish occurred in the ocean in groups of mixed 

 sizes. 



It seemed advisable to evaluate ocean salmon size 

 limits. This evaluation was approached from two 

 angles— determining occurrence frequency of under- 

 sized fish concentrations and determining degree of 

 hooking mortality. Areas where concentrations of sub- 

 legal fish occurred were termed "ocean nursery 

 areas." 



During the 1957 ocean commercial season, depart- 

 ment personnel interviewed fishermen to gather infor- 

 mation about these problems. Interviews indicated that 

 concentrations of undersized fish do commonly exist, 

 and that predictions about their occurrence in time 

 and space could be made. 



Additional information was collected on hooking 

 mortality and ocean nursery areas. Special troller re- 

 ports were filled out voluntarily by fishermen and 

 spot checks were made by department personnel who 

 accompanied fishermen on trips as observers. Informa- 

 tion about location and movement of undersized fish 

 along the coast, and mortality prior to release of 

 hooked sublegal fish was recorded in both cases. This 

 work will give detailed and conclusive information on 

 nursery areas and hooking mortality. It is being 

 continued. 



River Gill Nets Removed 



As of September 27, 1957, the last commercial fish- 

 ery for salmon in inland waters of the state ceased 

 to exist. The Legislature passed a bill prohibiting the 

 use of gill nets to capture salmon and shad in the 

 Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. 



Preceding passage of the bill, which one legislator 

 termed "the hottest of the session," were many em- 

 battled hearings pitting sportsmen against gill netters. 



Throughout the discussions, the department took 

 the position that the gill nets were the last major ob- 

 stacle of the salmon on their way to the spawning 

 grounds and recommended their removal for the rea- 

 son that more spawners are needed if the resource is 

 to be maintained. The department also recommended 

 their removal on the grounds that nets were killing 

 too many striped bass while fishing for salmon. 



Pink Salmon 



Pink salmon appeared in the ocean catch in 1957 

 as expected, although the reduced fishing effort, due 

 to scarcity of king salmon, kept their number very 

 low. The year 1955 remains as the best of the three 

 in which these salmon have been noted in the catch, 

 although even then they were insignficant except as 

 oddities, making up less than one-half of 1 percent of 

 the total landings for that year. 



