METHODS OF INSHORE FISHERIES 249 



canneries, of which 61 were sardine canneries, valued at 

 $566,305; in 1905, there were 46 canneries, of which 33 

 were sardine, valued at $1,279,525. The ground floor of 

 the cannery generally has rooms for the machinery, for 

 the salting vats, and for packing boxes. The upper floor 

 contains rooms for steaming and drying the herring, for 

 packing them in oil, and for sealing the cans. 



The process of preparing herring for the market as sar- 

 dines begins where the fish are taken from the receiving 

 pounds of the weirs by the collecting boats and ends with 

 placing the cases of packed sardines aboard the steam- 

 boat for shipment to the South or Middle West. Many 

 companies own the boats used in collecting the fish from 

 the weirs, and pay the captain and crew by the month. 

 The boats are now steamers or auxiliary sloops; the prices 

 paid for the fish at the weirs is 30 or 40 cents per bushel. 

 The fish are bailed from the receiving pounds into the 

 holds of the boats and thus taken to the canneries. Upon 

 reaching the wharves the herring are taken out in basket- 

 fuls by a small engine, the baskets of fish are taken by 

 overhead carriers into the cannery, where the fish are 

 dumped out upon the tables, and the empty baskets sent 

 out on the return-carrier. 



At the cutting tables the fish are seized by boys and 

 girls, and by one operation of the knife the heads and 

 entrails are separated from the body, which is thrown in 

 a box holding about a peck. Five cents a box is paid for 

 heading the herring. The boxes of be-headed fish are 

 placed in cars and taken to large vats. After being 

 washed they are placed in brine and remain for an hour 

 or more. From the vats the herring are dipped by nets 

 into movable stands on which streams of water are playing. 

 As the fish escape from the incline of the stand, they re- 

 ceive a thorough washing and are caught at the floor in 

 baskets. The latter are hoisted to the second floor of the 



