72 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Thus, for the use of floating nets there is a fine of 20 " roubles," ($14 gold,) 

 and the fishing-implements and the fish caught are confiscated. Any 

 person fishing in the " corridors," where fishing is prohibited, pays 

 double the amount of an annual permit, either 100 or 210 "roubles, 

 ($70 or $L08 gold.) A person who is fined for the third time has not 

 only to pay the fine, but is deprived for ten years of the right of fishing 

 within the limits of the buoys. Persons using forged permits are 

 arraigned before the criminal court. When a permit has run out, it 

 must be delivered at the offices of the fishing-administration, and, if 

 this is neglected, a fine of 5 " kopecks" (3-J cents) must be paid for each 

 day of delay, till the maximum of 3 "roubles" ($2.10 gold) is reached. 



The river-fisheries of the government are subdivided into a certain 

 number of small fisheries, which are leased. This, as well as the liberty 

 of fishing in the sea, the system of buoys, and the fixing of certain 

 periods when fishing is prohibited, has fully proved its beneficial influ- 

 ence and great usefulness. Formerly, there were at Astrachan only 

 seven houses which dealt in fish and fishing-products ; at present, there 

 are in that city about thirty large and small fishing-houses, which com- 

 pete with each other, not only in the preparation of fish and the different 

 articles prepared from them, but also in the sums they pay to their em- 

 ployes and laborers. Poor fishermen — and their number is very great — 

 who have commenced with but little, have been favored by fortune, and 

 many of them have become the independent proprietors of large fishing- 

 boats, on which numerous laborers earn a safe and good living. The 

 prices paid by the fishing-houses are just double that which they were 

 formerly. The system of buoys facilitates the passage of fish into the 

 innumerable currents which form the mouths of the Volga, so that they 

 cannot only reach the spawning-places, but ascend as high as the fisheries 

 located beyond Kamychiue in eight districts of the Volga basin. Special 

 officers watch zealously over the strict observance of the new fishiug- 

 regulations, and the important process of spawning cau now go on with- 

 out the slightest risk of being disturbed. 



An improvement, which is very desirable, and which has not yet 

 been carried out, is the total abolition, or at least a great diminution, 

 of the tax on salt. If this were done, the fish would be better salted, 

 and certain kinds, which now, on account of the high price of salt, are 

 not salted at all, would become an eagerly sought-for article of com- 

 merce. The Astrachan fisheries use at present not less than 2,500,000 

 " pouds " (90,000,000 pounds) yearly. The duty on salt is 30 " kopecks " 

 (21 cents) on the " pond," (36 pounds.) 



6. — FISHING-IMPLEMENTS. 



The implements used by the fishermen of the Caspian Sea are various 

 kinds of nets, "paleugres," hooks, and fish-gigs, which generally resem- 

 ble those used in the Mediterranean, and are of ancient origin. 



Stationary nets. — The nets that are in use are stationary nets float- 



