140 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
on the u seal rocks ” just outside of the Golden Gate, and which roam all 
over the bays and ascend the Sacramento River as far as Rio Vista. 
These active and voracious animals are very bold and seem to have 
learned the habits and methods of the fishermen. They will follow the 
boats and wait around them until the nets are set. As soon as fish 
are gilled they are immediately seized by the sea lions, which, in addi- 
tion to robbing the fishermen, often damage the apparatus materially. 
It is common for these animals to seize a salmon when the nets are being 
hauled, and fight and struggle with the fisherman for .its possession 
with such determination that the net.is usually torn and the sea pirate 
secures his booty. 
While the damage to nets is considerable and the daily consumption 
of fisb by these pinnipeds is enormous, the fishermen believe that the 
sea lions exert even a more baneful influence by preventing schools of 
fish from entering the bays. Many persons have thought that they 
had a marked influence in causing the reported scarcity of fish in San 
Francisco Bay. Under these circumstances it goes without saying 
that, were it not for the State law that protects the seals, the fisher- 
men would soon attack their rookeries and materially reduce their 
numbers or destroy them altogether. But, while seals and sea lions 
consume large quantities of fish, many old citizens assert that these 
animals are far less numerous than formerly, when fish were very 
abundant, and they maintain that there is some other cause for scarcity 
of fish if such exists. As late as 1874 there was a rookery at Mountain 
View River, St. Clair County, where at present seals are seldom seen, 
while they generally gather in large numbers at Redwood Creek and 
various other places in the bay.* 
Extent of the San Francisco market trade .-^ Records are not generally 
kept and it is impossible to tell the exact amount of fresh-fish products 
sold in San Francisco by hucksters and marketmen, including quantities 
handled by wholesale dealers who ship to other cities and the trade 
generally. A careful estimate, however, based upon the experience of 
the most observant and conservative dealers and upon the records of 
transportation agencies, gives the figures in the following table : 
Summary of the fresh-fish trade of San Francisco in 1888 and 1889. 
Species. 
1888. 
1889. 
Pounds. 
Average 
price. 
Retail 
value. 
Pounds. 
Average 
price! 
Retail 
value. 
Fish. 
Anchovies 
Barracuda 
Bonito 
Carp 
Catfish 
Cultus-cod 
Eels 
Elatfish 
200, 000 
125, 000 
50, 000 
100, 000 
10, 000 
187. 500 
1, 000 
483, 000 
$0. 03 
.08 
.04 
.07 
.17 
.08 
.30 
.09 
$6, 000 
10, 000 
2, 000 
7, 000 
1, 700 
15,000 
300 
41,470 
120, 000 
110, 000 
80, 000 
60, 000 
12, 000 
100, 000 
700 
360, 000 
$0. 05 
.10 
.05 
.08 
. 10 
.08 
.30 
.10 
$6, 000 
11, 000 
4, 000 
4, 800 
1, 200 
8, 000 
210 
36, 000 
* At the time of completing this report (1890) sardines are reported so abundant in 
San Francisco Bay that they literally obstruct the passage of boats through the water. 
