Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
the Central Bay, numerous small towns popped up near shoreline coves
and promontories to form Benicia, Antioch, Redwood City, Hayward,
Port Chicago, and Port Costa. Ferries geared up to carry passengers and
daily cargo between these population centers. Other vessels carried fruits
and vegetables produced around the edges of the South Bay in Santa Clara,
Ardenwood, Hayward, and Fremont—and even wine grown in the vine-
yards around Mountain View—from agricultural landings to the urban
markets of the Central Bay.
Just as the Sacramento River provided good boat transportation for the
agricultural production of the valley, the bay afforded quick transporta-
tion for those seeking to ship products to an even broader market. By the
turn of the century, businesses began to crowd out farmers around some
bay landings. At Point San Pablo, on today's Richmond waterfront, the ar-
rival of the railroad at the landing in the early 1900s attracted a whale
processing plant, an oil can factory, a brickyard, and the world's largest
winery.
Nobody had to go far, or risk a stomach-heaving trip out through the
Golden Gate, to catch something to eat or sell in the Bay Area in the de-
cades after the California Gold Rush. Many locals came to know the life in
the water—and the seasons and habits of different fish species—intimately.
Indeed, the heart of the regional economy lay in harvesting the species
swimming around and dug into the mud of this rich coastal estuary. Word
on the dock back then was that the best fishing for smelt was in the South
Bay, for flatfish in San Pablo Bay, for salmon in the Sacramento River and
northern bays, for sturgeon in Suisun Bay, and for carp and catfish in the
San Joaquin River. And if fishermen preferred smaller or more stationary
prey, shrimp teemed in the shallows, and oysters and clams burrowed
through acres and acres of mudflats.
It wasn't long after the Gold Rush that Bay Area fishermen began land-
ing every available species in record quantities. They could drop their
fresh catch off on a town dock lined with restaurants, or sell it to canneries
to be sent to the miners or overseas via the growing fleet of transoceanic
ships. San Francisco Bay soon evolved into an important collection and
distribution point for fish products, and for a short time it even bragged of
being the whaling capital of the world. At that time, there were more than
80 fishing ports ringing the bay, according to John E. Skinner. Skinner's
1962 historical review of the San Francisco Bay's fish and wildlife resources
