FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
51 
Fishermen and shoresmen , lay , e/c. — There was a total of 25 fishermen 
in this county in 1888, representing many nationalities. One native of 
New England, who had been trained in the arts of a fisherman on the 
coast of Maine, has established his home on a small rocky islet (near 
Port Harford) that rises 50 or 60 feet above the sea, its naked wind- 
swept sides and crest barren of vegetation. Besides Americans, there 
are natives of five European nations. Portugal and Norway are most 
numerously represented. Russia comes next with two men, while there 
is a single fisherman each from Great Britain and Denmark. In addi- 
tion, there are two American-born shoresmen who find occupation in 
marketing or shipping the products. 
There is practically no lay in the food-fish fishery, since the fisher- 
men own their boats and equipment, and all that is received for fish, 
etc., belongs to them. The lay of the whalemen at San Simeon Bay, 
according to Alexander, is as follows: The harpooner receives one- 
sixteenth of the proceeds and each member of^the crew gets one-fiftieth. 
Only two of the men remain at the station during summer to look after 
the boats, gear, etc., for which some allowance is probably made. 
Boats. — There is nothing very distinctive about the boats used in this 
county; 19 are employed; 2 are small sloops, each less than 5 tons; 
8 are cat-rigged, and 9 are whaleboats of the ordinary type employed 
in shore whaling ; 3 of the latter are fitted with a pivot gun at the bow 
in addition to the ordinary equipment of a whaleboat. Each boat is 
valued at $200, including oars, besides which she has the following 
equipment: Harpoon gun (swivel, English make), worth $120 (cost $200 
new); bomb gun (American make), value $50; bombs, $25; whale line, 
$125; sundries (including hand lances, harpoons, etc.), $80. 
Fishing grounds , apparatus , methods , etc. — Mackerel are caught chiefly 
near the shore, for a mile or two on either side of Point San Luis, and 
around the whistling buoy, about a mile southeast from the point, in 
from 13 to 17 fathoms of water. The New Englanders have introduced 
the method of jigging mackerel, and it has proved successful ; most of 
the mackerel taken are caught this way. The jigs are similar in form 
and construction to those used in catching the common mackerel (S. 
scombrus) in the Atlantic, but are much larger. 
The principal trawling grounds for rockfisli are in San Luis Obispo 
Bay, in 6 to 12 fathoms, from £ to 2 miles or more from shore, and along 
the coast north of Point San Luis, in 11 to 18 fathoms, on a variable 
bottom consisting chiefly of gravel, broken shells, and spots of barna- 
cles. Rockfish are also caught to a less extent with hand lines on these 
grounds. The favorite fishing grounds for bass is on the east side of 
San Luis Obispo Bay, in from 2J to 5 fathoms, where gill nets are set in 
and near the kelp beds frequented by this genus. Bass are also taken 
in drift nets farther out, as are bonito, mackerel, and horse mackerel. 
The two latter species, as well as the barracuda and some others, are 
caught by trolling jvith hook and line, but apparently to a less extent 
