128 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
most important factor in maintaining their unquestioned supremacy in 
the market fishery. 
They have several societies, among which the California Fishermen’s 
Union, on Vallejo street, is perhaps the most important.* * Here they 
meet to discuss and act upon all matters relating to their calling and 
which may affect their welfare, special attention being given to State 
laws regulating the fisheries. 
The lay upon which the fishermen work is as follows: The owners of 
a boat furnish all fishing gear — lines, nets, etc. — and receive one share. 
In settling, the cost of all provisions and outfit, other than fishing gear, 
is deducted from the gross stock, and the remainder is divided equally, 
the boat counting as one man in the division and getting oue share, 
while an equal amount goes to the captain and each member of the crew. 
Some fishermen own their boats, but in many cases the little vessels 
belong to the marketmen. 
The fishermen find constant employment in pursuit of the many kinds 
of fish that frequent these waters. Certain species are always arriving 
to take the places of those departing. This necessitates changes in 
gear and continuous activity. 
The financial success of the San Francisco fishermen is often seri- 
ously affected by the great quantities of fish received from stations on 
the coast, making the price unremunerative. Then the local market 
fisherman gets but little for his labor, and he complains most bitterly. 
Boats . — The majority of the market boats of San Francisco and 
vicinity are ieluccas, but some are cat-rigged. Wilcox gives the num- 
ber regularly marketing their catch at the city (exclusive of Chinese 
craft) as 126, which he classifies as follows : 8 boats from 32 to 36 feet 
in length, 51 from 20 to 25 feet, 20 from 18 to 20 feet, and 47 from 
15 to 18 feet long. 
An act of the California legislature, approved March 21, 1887, re- 
quires all fishing boats to obtain a license. In many cases, however, 
especially in thinly settled coast sections, the law has not been thor- 
oughly enforced, and the records of boats licensed generally gives an 
inadequate idea of the actual number employed. In the region includ- 
ing San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, 
452 boats, all told, were reported as licensed. These are divided into five 
classes, the classification being based on the number of men working on 
a boat. Class A includes boats with less than three men, and each 
boat of this class pays $5 license fee. Those witli three men come 
under class B, and pay $7.50. Then follow the classes C, D, and E, 
$2.50 extra being charged for each man carried in a boat in addition to 
* A writer in the San Francisco Chronicle, of November 11, 1883, says: “The fish- 
ermen are nearly all members of the Fishermen’s Protective and Benevolent Associa- 
tion, which ha3 had an organization here since 1877, with a large membership. 
* * * The office of the association is located at 23 Vallejo street.” 
