The Fisheries of California [pp. 469-478]

The Fisheries of California.
of the Santa Lucia Mountains rises almost directly from the sea. About
Monterey there is a great variety of
fisheries; kelp fishing, rock fishing, and
fishing with gill nets, are all profitable.
There is a considerable colony of Portuguese fishermen about Monterey, and
in the same neighborhood a large camp
of Chinese. Since i88o a considerable
bank has been discovered outside of
Monterey Bay, on which the genuine
halibut (the same species that is found
on the coasts of England and Newfoundland) is taken in abundance. This
is the only bank on which halibut is
known to occur south of Cape Flattery.
No material change has taken place in
the character of the fishing, except that
the boats are going into somewhat
deeper water, and consequently are
bringing in species not formerly taken.
The estimate for I88o was 9oo0,ooo
pounds; for I890, i,002,000.
Across the bay the fisheries of Santa
Cruz County are somewhat different.
The sandy coasts of this county abound
in fish, and they are easily taken in gill
nets, or even in seines. On the other
hand, the bay of Santa Cruz is exposed
to storms, and for a considerable number of days in the year the fishermen
cannot carry on their work with success.
In spite of the growth of Santa Cruz the
fisheries of this county have remained
stationary; the increase in the fisheries
of Santa Cruz and Soquel being balanced by the disappearance of the fishing camp of Aptos. The estimate of
I88o was 233,00o0; for I890, 235,000ooo.
The fisheries of the Bay counties have
greatly increased in the ten years, on
account of the greater demand arising
from the growth of San Francisco and
Oakland. But it is very difficult in forming an estimate of the fisheries of San
Francisco to exclude from the enumeration fishes shipped in from a distance.
In I88o fish rarely came into San Francisco markets from any place south of
Monterey. During the winter I now
frequently see species taken about the
Santa Barbara Islands, and even so far
south as San Pedro. I notice also that
the character of the fish in the market
has to some extent slowly changed.
Many of the common fish that live near
the shore are becoming almost exterrninated; while the fishes of deeper
waters, especially those living about the
Farallones, many of which were great
rarities in I88o, have now become fairly
common. To this change in the fisheries of San Francisco we must ascribe
the fact that many of the species now
common in the markets were wholly
unknown to the earlier observers,- for
example, Doctor Ayres and Doctor
Gibbons. It is no fault of theirs that
they failed to find at San Francisco the
deep water fishes which are now daily
seen in the markets, but which were
never taken in the fifties. The estimate for the Bay counties in I88o was a
very little less than 6,ooo,ooo; for I890,
I10,975,000 pounds. No attempt has been
made by Mr. Wilcox to distribute this
among the counties in which they were
taken. In my estimate made in I88o
I.ascribed to San Francisco County or
more exactly to the work of the fishermen living in San Francisco County
5,500,000 pounds, to Marin County, 470,6o0o, to San Mateo County 25,ooo, to
Alameda County 2,oo000, and to Santa
Clara County virtually nothing, as its
whole coast line is a soft marsh, which
only in two or three places allows the
bay to be reached. The fisheries are
still confined chiefly to the coasts of San
Francisco and Marin counties, a large
part of the fishing of Marin County
being done in Tomales Bay.
For Sonoma County an estimate of
Io,OOO pounds was made in I88o; of
I83,000 pounds in I890. The increase
was doubtless due mainly to the development of the salmon fisheries along
the Russian River.
Along the unbroken and wooded coast
of Mendocino County there has never
1892.]
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