430 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



ince of Mino. A dragon is placed at the prow to help the maneuvers of the cormo. 

 rants. The men are four in number, of whom two manage the boat and the other two 

 the cormorants. The skill with which the men handle the birds is truly wonderful. The 

 man near the prow usually manages 12 birds, and when one of them swallows four or 

 five fish he draws it to him by the cord with which it' is tied, and by pressing its throat 

 squeezes the fish out into a tray beside him. In doing this, he is always sure to pick 

 out the right cord, and not the least entanglement occurs. The large basket with 

 the wooden cover is used for keeping the cormorants in. This mode of fishing is said 

 to have begun more than a thousand years ago. 



The ayu is highly esteemed in the fresh state; but it is also boiled and dried, or 

 preserved in salt and sake dregs, so that it may be kept for a long time or transported 

 to distant countries. The ayu thus treated is highly esteemed and is sold at a high 

 price. When preserved in the dregs of sake, or Japanese wine, the fish is stuffed 

 with its own roe. The value of a single fish is about 50 sen. 



THE SARDINE FISHERY. 



The sardine or iwashi ( Glupea melanosticta) is the most important of the useful 

 fish of Japan, and the economic condition of the whole fishing industry is intimately 

 connected with the amount of its catch. This is due to the fact that the sardine 

 always comes in enormous shoals and is caught almost everywhere along the coast. 

 Large areas of the surface of the sea are sometimes changed in color by the presence 

 of a single shoal. The sardine is a migratory fish, going from south to north in spring 

 and returning again to the south in autumn. The shoal usually swims at the surface, 

 against the current, but is said also to sink at times to the bottom. The sardine feeds 

 on small crustaceans, such as Mi/sis, and is attracted by torchlight. Spawning takes 

 place in the spring. 



Both nets and lines are used for sardine fishing. The latter are, however, limited 

 to certain small districts, while the former are extensively used and have been greatly 

 improved, there being no less than twenty different types of them, the most important 

 of which are the ground seine, circle net, eight-armed net, tack seine, dip net, and 

 drift net. 



The sardine ground seine is used at Kujukuri in the province of Kazusa. It con- 

 sists of a pocket and two wings. The pocket is made of hemp, with meshes of from 

 f to I of an inch, and is about 150 feet long. The wings are about 1,150 feet long, 

 and are made partly of hemp and partly of straw. The hempen portion has meshes 

 of from ^ of an inch to about 2£ inches, and the straw portion has meshes of about 1 

 foot. The wings and the pocket can be separated from each other. The drag ropes 

 are made of three strands coiled together, and are a little over an inch thick and 105 

 or 110 feet long. From 00 to 80 such ropes are usually provided ready for use. If a 

 shoal is detected, two boats row out with the separate portions of the net. A little 

 before reaching the shoal, the pocket and the wings are joined together; the former is 

 then cast first and the shoal is gradually encircled with the wings. When these 

 come to an end, the drag ropes are cast and the net is hauled on shore. 



The circle net is called hassaku-ami by the native fishermen. It is used off the 

 coast of the province of Hidachi. It consists of a central portion and two wings. 

 It is usually separated at the middle into two equal portions, and these are joined 

 together when the net is being used. The central portion is made of hemp and is 400 



