REPORT OF BOARD OF FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONERS. 9 
The legislature acted favorably upon our recommendation with 
respect to placing wild turkeys on the protected list. This action was 
timely, as the birds that had been liberated in the San Bernardino 
Mountains, Sequoia Park, eastern Tulare County, and in the Yosemite 
National Park are showing an encouraging increase. 
The change in the law relating to pheasants, whereby the restrictions 
were removed from those raised in captivity, has proven of great advan¬ 
tage to pheasant raisers. It has given encouragement to many who 
had started in a small way and found themselves with a considerable 
number of birds on hand, and no legal means to dispose of them. It 
also permits them to be freely transferred from one part of the State 
to another and sold for purposes of propagation, but withholds the 
right to sell for market purposes. We believe, however, that further 
encouragement should be given by allowing those raised in captivity to 
be sold in the markets under proper restrictions. 
Some important changes have also been made with respect to the 
laws governing the taking of fish. We recommended at the thirty- 
eighth session of the legislature that the law on crabs be changed by 
raising the then existing close season, September and October, and 
establishing in lieu thereof a close season of four months beginning 
November. 1st and ending on March 1st of the following yea 1 " While 
this was a step in the right direction, we do not consider it suiiicient, 
and will recommend that a close season of two years be established. 
The legislature acted favorably upon our recommendation with 
respect to establishing a close season for the taking of striped bass 
with nets or seines, fixing the time from the first of May to the first of 
July of each year, and permitting their capture by hook and line only 
during that period. A reduction was also made in the legal mesh of nets 
with which these fish could be captured from 7-J to 5-J inches. It seemed 
inconsistent that while striped bass might be taken and legally possessed 
weighing not less than three pounds, a 7J-inch mesh net would not cap¬ 
ture one weighing less than five or six pounds. This offered a great 
temptation to the fishermen and resulted in many infringements. The 
legal mesh for the taking of salmon was also reduced from 7^ to 6J 
inches. 
Our recommendation for a close season of at least two years on 
lobsters or crawfish was met by fixing an indefinite close season on the 
taking of them in the waters of California, but permitting crawfish or 
lobster that were taken without the waters of this State to come in 
under prescribed restrictions. 
Section 632^, referring to the steelhead trout, Avas amended by 
removing the close season that existed concurrent with the salmon law 
from September 17th to October 23d, and fixing a total weight limit 
in one day at 50 pounds. This met with much favor from all anglers. 
