226 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The special fisheries which give this region much of the prominence it possesses 
are the salmon, the whale, the oyster, the fur-seal, the shrimp, the cod, the crab, and 
the herring, in the order named. The value of the salmon fisliery is about equal to 
that of all other fisheries combined, while the canning industry connected with the 
fishery has an annual output but little less in value than that of all the fishery products 
of the coast. The salmon are by far the most important fishes or fishery iiroducts of 
Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, but in the fisheries of California they are surpassed 
by whales, oysters, and shrimps. 
A conspicuous feature of the fisheries of California is the entire absence of pound 
nets, trap nets, weirs, and other similar fixed devices. While it is true that a few 
fyke nets are employed in the Sacramento- San Joaquin delta, their use is so restricted 
and their importance so slight that they may be dismissed from consideration. The 
absence of this class of nets, which are such prominent factors in the fisheries of the 
other States of this region, is owing wdiolly to legislation. The State has shown a 
disinclination to permit the use of such appliances, and no very determined efforts 
have been made by commercial fishermen to secure the repeal of the existing jirohib- 
itive law. While the setting of fyke nets is enjoined, tlie law is not strictly enforced, 
for the reason that in the opinion of the State Fish Commission the obvious purpose 
of the act was to prevent the destruction of desirable food-fish, and especially immature 
fishes; whereas the few nets employed are set in such situations and under such condi- 
tions that only fishes generally regarded as worthless, or nearly so, are or can be taken.. 
In no other region in the United States are the people more generally impressed 
with the beneficial results of artificial propagation and more ready to aid and 
approve any fish-cultural measures that are jiroperly recommended. While the 
results of salmon-culture have in some places been marked and are readily acknowl- 
edged by fishermen and others, this alone is not sufficient to account for the wide- 
spread advocacy of fish-culture which exists among all classes and in all parts of the 
Pacific coast. W e must look further for the cause. There seems little reason to doubt 
that to the marvelous success of shad and striped bass acclimatization on the west 
coast must be attributed the firm belief in fish-cultural work that jiervades all localities 
in which fish is an article of food or au object of capture. One or both of these new 
species are well known in almost every accessible coast settlement in the three States, 
and they are an enduring testimony to the influence of man over fish production. 
As may be readily understood, the time available for the inspection of the fisheries 
of the west coast wvas so short as to preclude a complete study of the subject, and it 
was necessary to restrict the inquiry to those place's which afforded the best oppor- 
tunity to see the greatest variety of fish and fishing in the shortest time, and to those 
fisheries possessing the greatest interest and importance. 
The chief object of the visit to the Pacific Coast was to give the writer a proper 
conception of the principal jihases of the commercial fisheries there carried on, in 
order to better equip him for the administration of the affairs of the division under 
his charge. A great many memoranda were made on the various aspects of different 
branches of the fishing industry, of which the following notes form a part. Much of 
personal interest to the waiter that was noted, however, would not have sufficient 
importance to deserve mention in this reiiort. 
The notes herewith presented cover only a few of the fisheries of the w’est coast, 
and mostly relate to only a few of the phases of those branches which are considered. 
They represent the personal observations and researches of the writer, and are 
