UC San Diego Library – Scripps Digital Collection

The object of this bulletin is to put on record a description of the Monterey sardine[1] fishery which can be used as a basis for judging future changes in the conduct of this industry. Detailed knowledge of changes is essential to an understanding of the significance of total catch figures, or of records of catch per boat or per seine haul. It is particularly necessary when applying any form of catch analysis to a fishery as a means of illustrating the presence or absence of depletion or of natural fluctuations in supply. Most of the detailed descriptions in the following pages are based on conditions as they existed during the two fishing seasons, 1920–1921 and 1921–1922. However, the many changes, chiefly general developments in the industry, have so profoundly affected the total catch and catch per boat that several revisions of the original account have been required. Dates of revision, in parentheses, accompany the notes of these changes. While this is somewhat awkward, it definitely fixes the year in which certain practices began or were discontinued, and thus aids in fulfilling the chief purpose of the record. These notes include only a description of fishing methods, fishing gear, and some of the business conditions of the industry which directly affect the catch. No attempt is made in them to cover all of the complex economic conditions that may influence the catch.