UC San Diego Library – Scripps Digital Collection

For many years the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries has collected complete statistics of the fish catch of California by means of a system of triplicate receipts which record the number of pounds of each species landed by each fishing boat each day. These receipts yield many types of detailed information concerning our fisheries. The annual total catch records have been published in the Biennial Reports of the Division of Fish and Game and also issued in the form of circulars for more ready distribution. Totals compiled by three-month periods have been published regularly in the quarterly magazine, California Fish and Game.

Monthly catch records have been compiled because of their significance in determining fishing seasons as well as furnishing basic information for the administration of our fisheries. For a number of years these monthly totals were not made public, but beginning in 1929 the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries issued Fish Bulletin No. 15 for the purpose of presenting the tables of monthly fish catch with explanatory text and illustrative graphs. This was followed in 1930 by Fish Bulletin No. 20. The present publication is therefore the third in this series of bulletins picturing the monthly as well as the seasonal and annual catch records for the various districts of the State of California.

Each boat engaged in commercial fishing in this State is required to register annually with the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in order that we may have some gauge of the fishing effort expended in each district. The registration includes dimensions, type and power of the boat itself, as well as recording the kind of fishing pursued, number of men employed, months fished, amount and description of the gear operated in each fishery. Although these records have been useful to the bureau in many ways they have not before been summarized for publication. There is included in this bulletin such a summary to show the number, size and type of boats engaged in the fisheries of each district in the State.

The published statistics of the fish catch of California are usually expressed in terms of pounds landed. Our triplicate fish receipt records indicate the price per pound paid to the fisherman so that the catches may be expressed as money value rather than tonnage. For several years, Carl B. Tendick, statistical agent for the United States Bureau of Fisheries, has prepared from these receipts an annual report

for the federal bureau, including a valuation of the California catch. Through the courtesy of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, we are here including a brief valuation survey prepared by Mr. Tendick.