D4 REPORT OF THE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 
packers in southern California and will, in a short time, be adopted in 
the northern part of the state. The receipts show the quantity and 
price of each variety of fish received, the date, the name of the boat and 
the owner, and the name of person or firm receiving them. The receipts 
are numbered serially and a record is kept of the numbers issued to each 
dealer or packer so that we may be sure we are getting the transactions 
complete. From these we get the amount of each variety of fish received 
by each dealer or packer, thus relieving them from making the monthly 
report now required. It has been necessary for us to employ two extra 
men for this work in the south, as we are collecting the receipts once a 
week, and part of the time, daily, for the convenience of the Food Ad- 
ministration. After the monthly records are compiled, the receipts are 
filed under the name of each individual boat so that we will have the 
complete catch of each boat for future reference. The system has 
worked with remarkable success. 
Accurate statistical information which can be obtained by means of 
this triplicate system will be of the greatest aid in our conservation work 
und as such data gains immensely in value if continued over a long 
period of years, the state should enact a law which will perpetuate the 
system and put its fisheries work on a very much higher plane. Such a 
bill will be prepared for the coming session of the legislature and we 
are sure it will receive the unanimous support of all those in the industry 
and all who are interested in our fisheries. 
Fisheries Tax. 
The Jaw which aids us now in the collection of fisheries statistics was 
further amended at the last legislative session so as to provide a tax of 
fifty cents a ton on fish received by packers, or curers for purposes other 
than for the fresh fish trade. All states and most countries, which are 
doing serious fisheries conservation work, derive a substantial revenue 
from their fisheries for the purpose. As the fish are among the few 
things which still belong to the people of the state it is perfectly proper 
for the people to demand of persons exploiting the fisheries that they 
pay to the state a modest sum for the privilege in order that this revenue 
may be used for the patrol and conservation work which is necessary 
to perpetuate the industries. This was the object of the commercial 
fisheries tax amendment bill. This bill became a law in July, 1917, and 
its passage by the legislature was in large part due to the approval,and 
support of the majority of the persons who were to be taxed. 
The law provides that the money so received shall be used for the 
benefit of the fishing industry in the district from which it is derived. 
This tax rate, while it is hardly one-half what is required by other states, 
is probably sufficient for the present, due to the great increase in the 
