Landing bulletins provide basic catch records of amounts and values of marine resources taken by California's commercial fisheries plus summarizations of catches by the passenger carrying fishing industry. Small quantities of freshwater fish taken commercially in inland areas also are detailed. These figures are of local, national, and international significance to those interested in the wise utilization and management of California's living marine and freshwater resources.

This report for 1976 is the 36th in a series stemming from the first gathering of commercial fisheries landing data by the California Department of Fish and Game in 1916 and the subsequent first publication of these catch data in 1929 for the years 1926 and 1927.

California's fishery statistics are based on a system where fish dealers, processors, and operators of passenger carrying fishing vessels send duplicate copies of their landing records to the department. Fish Bulletin 86, which reported the catch for 1950, describes fully the system and methods used in collecting commercial fish records. Basic principles remain the same today as then, although some methods and equipment changed. Parke Young (1969) described the passenger carrying vessel industry in Fish Bulletin 145.

Landing bulletins provide records of amounts and values of various living marine resources taken by California's commercial fisheries, and summarize catches made by the partyboat sportfishing industry. They also detail the small quantities of freshwater fish taken commercially in inland areas. These data provide the basic background for managing California's marine fishery resources. The published figures are of local, national, and international significance, and are used by fisheries scientists, legislators, educators, members of the fishing industry, and others interested in California fisheries.

This report for 1971 is the 31st in the series of landing bulletins. The first, published in 1929, contained the records of the 1926 and 1927 commercial fish landings.

California's fishery statistics are based on a system whereby fish dealers, processors, and partyboat operators send duplicate copies of their landing records to the Department. The statistical system and methods used to collect the records were fully described in Fish Bulletin 86, which reported the catch for 1950. In the intervening years, methods and equipment have been modified as conditions warranted, but the basic principles have remained unchanged.