. California fish and game. Fisheries -- California; Game and game-birds -- California; Fishes -- California; Animal Population Groups; Pêches; Gibier; Poissons. FORTY-FOURTH BIENNIAL REPORT 55 be properly coordinated and the Pacific Marine Fish- eries Commission has accepted the responsibility for this job, and is continuing to act as the clearing house for the exchange of albacore data among the interested agencies. SARDINES Sardines, virtually absent during 1952 and 1953, again appeared in Southern California waters. Cali- fornia's purse seine fleet took 64,000 tons during the 1954-55 seaso
. California fish and game. Fisheries -- California; Game and game-birds -- California; Fishes -- California; Animal Population Groups; Pêches; Gibier; Poissons. FORTY-FOURTH BIENNIAL REPORT 55 be properly coordinated and the Pacific Marine Fish- eries Commission has accepted the responsibility for this job, and is continuing to act as the clearing house for the exchange of albacore data among the interested agencies. SARDINES Sardines, virtually absent during 1952 and 1953, again appeared in Southern California waters. Cali- fornia's purse seine fleet took 64,000 tons during the 1954-55 season and 75,000 tons in the 1955-56 season. These landings, although a sizable increase over the two previous years of complete failure, were a far cry from even poor seasons during the "hey day" of the fishery. Optimism expressed in some quarters that California's sardines have once again returned home is not justified by the available evidence. Historically, from 1916 to the present, the Cali- fornia sardine industry has depended upon rather pre- dictable on-shore movements of adult fish after their off-shore spawning. During the peak of the industry this spawning occurred as far north as British Co- lumbia. After spawning, the adult fish moved in-shore and traveled south along the coast at \\ hich time they were available to the purse seiners. With the series of poor spawning years beginning in the late 1940's, coupled with a continuing heavy fishing pressure, the stock of fish north of Baja Cali- fornia was reduced progressively each year. The pinch was first in the north where the largest oldest fish w ere normally taken. The fisheries in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon failed in the late 1940's and by 1951, Mon- terey's once large industry was no more. By 1952 the San Pedro fishery was almost as completely dead as Monterey's. A purse seine net puller, developed and patented during the biennium, enables the fnherman to purse and pull an empty net in a
Size: 1573px × 1589px
Photo credit: © Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorcaliforniadeptoffishandgame, bookauthorcaliforniafish
