FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 129 
three. Thus, a crew of four pays $10, five meu are taxed $12.50, and 
so on.* 
The market fisherman paints and repairs his own boat, makes new 
sails, repairs old ones, and attends to the fitting of rigging. The boats 
are built at San Francisco by Italians and Greeks, who also turn out 
small craft of this type for use elsewhere along the coast. There are 
three boat building shops (with an average value, with accessories, etc., 
of about $1,000) that employ two or three men each. 
Apparatus and methods of fishing . — The frequent changes in fishing 
caused by the appearance or departure of certain species compel the 
market fishermen to use a great variety of apparatus to secure the best 
results. It is common for a boat to be fully equipped with hand and 
trawl lines, salmon gill nets, herring or smelt nets, seines, etc.; but most 
of this gear is generally stored on shore, the boat carrying only that re- 
quired for the special fishery it is employed in at the time. Many small 
boats engage in crab fishing throughout the year and require no change 
of gear.f 
The crews of the boats vary from 2 to 6 men, the number depending 
upon the size of the craft and the fishery it is following. 
The larger class of boats generally pursue the flounder, rock-cod, 
smelt, herring, salmon, etc., in their respective seasons, and employ all 
varieties of gear known to the trade. The hand line is perhaps the 
most common form of apparatus. Whatever other gear may be put 
into storage, eight hand lines are generally kept on each boat, as they 
occupy little space and can often be utilized to good effect, when other- 
wise the time might be lost, as when a boat is becalmed. Occasionally 
the trawl lines do not find good fishing, owing to the poor quality of 
the bait, which may have been on the hooks longer than usual, or to 
various other causes known to fishermen; and at such times the hand 
lines play an important part in securing a fare. Sometimes two-thirds 
of the day’s catch will be taken on hand lines. There are three sizes of 
lines. The smallest is about 20 fathoms long, with a sinker weighing 
one-half pound. A medium size is twice as long and with double the 
weight of sinker ; the longest used is 75 fathoms, with a lead weighing 
2 pounds. They cost, respectively, 35 cents, 00 cents, and $1. 
From 30 to 40 baskets of trawl lines are carried by each boat when 
trawling. Each basket holds a little over 100 fathoms of ground line, 
with from 150 to 180 hooks attached. The gaugiugs are 3 feet long and 
3J feet apart. The cost per 1,000 hooks, including buoy lines, etc., re- 
quired for setting them, is $27. The trawl baskets are oval in form, 
* This tax is considerable in the aggregate, reaching the sum of $3,010 for licenses 
issued for Humboldt, Tehama, and Shasta Counties, and the region previously men- 
tioned, viz : Class A, $2,485; class B, $52.50 ; class C, $170; class D, $287.50 ; class E, $15. 
t Alexander remarks that “on an average 100 boats follow crab fishing the year 
round ; the smallest boats, as a rule, are used in this fishery.” 
H. Mis. 274 9 
