PACIFIC COAST: CALIFORNIA. 



593 



these little crafts do not usually confine their operations to any particular species, but refuse nothing 

 for which they are sure of finding a market, from the whale to the abalone. 



The second table is the summation for the fisheries of the State in all their branches. It 

 includes not only the result of the toil of the coast fishermen, but also the products of the river 

 fisheries for salmon and the outcome of the voyages of the vessel fleets to the distant haunts of 

 the codfish and the whale. 



The salmon fishery is vigorously prosecuted in the waters of the three rivers, Sacramento, Eel, 

 and Smith, and the products in 1880 had a value, to the fishermen, of over $180,000. 



The cod is abundant in the Northern Pacific and many large vessels make annual expeditions 

 in its quest. There are two fleets of cod-vessels, one of which fishes in the Okhotsk Sea and the 

 other in the vicinity of the Shumagiu Islands, a group at the eastern extremity of the Aleutian 

 Archipelago. At the latter place a fishing station is established, and a vessel is kept constantly 

 employed in carrying to San Francisco the catch of several vessels which remain in the vicinity 

 throughout the season. Of the sixteen vessels engaged in the off-shore cod-fishery in 1880, ten 

 fished in the Okhotsk Sea and five belonged to the Shumagin Island fleet. The other went no 

 farther than the Cordell Banks, off the California coast. The catch amounted to nearly $200,000. 



The whaling grounds in the Sea of Kamtchatka and the Arctic Ocean were visited by five 

 vessels from the port of San Francisco. These vessels averaged 200 tons burden and had an aggre- 

 gate value of $27,000. The products consisted of 116,550 gallons of oil, worth $59,440, and 61,000 

 pounds of whalebone, worth $122,000. Although its own fleet is quite small, San Francisco is the 

 center of the whale fishery of the North Pacific. From this port are shipped to their destination 

 the products of nearly every American vessel whaling in those waters; in its docks the battered 

 hulk and broken spars, which witness the severity of northern tempests, are repaired; and by its 

 merchants is furnished the outfit for each new cruise. Thus the position which the city occupies 

 with regard to this fishery is much more important than the statistics would lead the reader to 

 believe. 



The seal business of the Alaska Commercial Company is omitted here, as it has been thought 

 better to include it in the statistics of the fisheries of Alaska. 



The following statements show in detail the extent of the coast fisheries of California: 



Summary statement of persons employed. 



Detailed statement of capital invested and apparatus employed. 



38 GBP 



