Salt Water Fisheries of the Pacific Coast [pp. 149-163]

Salt Water Fisheries of the Pacific Coast.
one at California City, and one on
Richardson's Bay.
These fisheries, prosecuted in Alaskan
waters mostly, are not properly within
the scope of this article.
The exact amount of the fresh fish
products sold in San Francisco by peddlers, marketmen, and wholesale dealers
who ship to interior ports, can not be
determined, for no records are kept.
Mr. W. A. Wilcox and Mr. A. B. Alexander. of the Fish Commission, after a
"careful estimate, however, based upon
the experience of the most observant
and conservative dealers, and upon the
records of transportation agencies,"
give the following figures
[n I889, the fish product of all kinds
amounted to 4863 tons,of the retail value
of $696,300; the mollusks, crustaceans,
etc., were consumed to the value of
$741,228, making a total of $1,437,528
Photo by Lowden
for the year. To obtain an adequate
idea of the amount of fish caught, one
third should be added for loss of weight
in cleaning, and then the great amount
of fish destroyed and returned to the
waters should be taken into consideration. The paranzella fishery necessarily
crushes to death or asphyxiates great
quantities of small flounders and other
fish in their big nets, beside destroying
many skates, halibut, and other unmarketable fish. This is the case when the
immense drag-net is operated close in
shore, as it is at Drake's Bay.
The value of apparatus and capital
invested in the market fishery is $ I,989,o30, consisting of vessels, boats, apparatus of capture, (such as gill-nets, trammel-nets, seines, bag-nets, pots, handlines, and trawl-lines,) shore property
and cash capital.
With this amount of capital invested,
IN SUISUN BAY.
1892.]
157