166 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Hoop nets are used to some extent by the Chinese employes at the 
canneries for the capture of cattish, which gather around the wharves 
and buildings, attracted by the refuse thrown into the water. Fyke 
nets are used about Sacramento for the capture of several varieties of 
coarse fish. “They include chubs, herring, perch, viviparous perch, stur- 
geons, hard-heads, split- tails, Sacramento pike, suckers, crabs.” The fyke 
nets usually have a 2J-inch mesh and wings about 14 feet long. Each 
net has 4 hoops. They are set close inshore, and the best results are ob- 
tained when the river rises and the fish run in near the banks. Fishing 
with fyke nets is carried on from November to May. It is discontinued 
in summer because the water is warmer and the fish poor. The nets 
are generally lifted each morning, and the fish are shipped to San Fran- 
cisco the same day, at least such as are not sold locally. 
The extent of thd salmon fishery , past and present . — In the early days 
of the salmon fishery on the Sacramento old inhabitants state that as 
many as 1,000 boats were used on the river between Sacramento and 
San Francisco Bay. Both boats and nets were then much smaller than 
they are at present. In 1888, 504 boats were employed on the two rivers 
in addition to about 150 others engaged in the fishery from San Fran- 
cisco and vicinity, which have been included with the statistics of San 
Francisco Bay. 
After October not more than 75 boats are usually engaged in salmon 
fishing, and practically the entire catch is sold fresh, for immediate 
consumption, either in the towns or peddled through the country. 
None of the product at that season is used for canning. The following 
table shows the quantities of salmon taken at the various points for the 
canneries and for sale in the markets : 
The salmon catch of the Sacramento. * 
District. 
Sold to 
canneries. 
Sold to mar- 
. kets for food. 
Total catch. 
Sacramento 
Pounds. 
47, 520 
31, 680 
2, 772, 000 
1, 188, 000 
Pounds. 
45, 689 
30,400 
1, 439, 100 
465, 300 
Pounds. 
93, 209 
62, 080 
4, 211, 100 
1, 653, 300 
Kio Vista 
Black Diamond 
Benicia 
Total _ _ 
1 4, 039, 200 
1, 980, 489 
6, 019, 689 
*The figures given in this table include salmon caught on the San Joaquin.and packed in the can- 
neries or otherwise disposed of. 
tThe canneries at these points packed 61,200 cases; 66 pounds of undressed fish being, on an aver- 
age, required to fill a case. ♦ 
Salmon-canning . — There is a cannery at Benicia, one at Black Dia- 
mond, and a branch cannery at Chipp’s Island ; these take most of the 
salmon caught in the lower Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, and 
also those obtained for canning purposes in Suisun Bay. A cannery 
at Sacramento is supplied with fish caught higher up the river. 
The canning of salmon on the west coast of the United States had its 
origin on the Sacramento River in 1864. Since that time the growth of 
