THE FISHERIES OF JAPAN. 437 



Next comes the squid, which has its run in the fall, lives in big schools, and is 

 caught with the jig. It is split open, pressed, and dried, and sent over to China. 



Another product of the sea I would like to mention is the Jcombu. The Jcombu is a 

 kind of alg;e, belonging to the species of Ltiminaria. They occur in great abundance 

 all along the coast, but the best kind is obtained on the northeastern coast, where the 

 cold current comes down from the north. They are taken from the rock upon whieli 

 they grow by the use of the wooden hook; they are then dried on the sandy beach, 

 made into bundles, and exported to China. 



Now, let me say a few words in reference to the fishermen on the island. They 

 are divided into three classes: (1) outfitters; (2) fishery proprietors; (3) employes. 

 Outfitters are those who furnish the fishing gears, or capital, or food supply to fisher- 

 men who can not fit out for themselves; the fishery proprietors are those who own the 

 fishing vessels, fish-houses, and all fishing gears; the employes are those employed 

 by the fishery proprietors for the prosecution of the fisheries. Some of the fishing is 

 done on shares, like the cod fishery of this country, while others are part in shares 

 and part in wages, and in some cases certain parts of the entire catch are given to the 

 gang of employes, besides regular wages. 



The fishermen of my country are a very open-hearted aud frank set of people, and 

 are sometimes superstitious. Among the fishery proprietors there are a great many 

 well educated, intelligent, and progressive men. They have formed associations 

 there for the purpose of preventing the manufacture of inferior articles and to adjust 

 any disputes arising between fishermen. They have a fishery society there, under the 

 name of Hokusui Kyokwai, for the promotion and improvement of the fisheries. They 

 publish monthly reports and distribute among the fishermen important and useful 

 information in regard to the fisheries. They also publish the translated account of 

 valuable information from this country. I think it will be of some interest to you to 

 know that a recent number of a publication which I have received contains a translation 

 of the paper read before the Fishery Convention in London, by one of your prominent 

 members, Dr. Goode. This society holds fairs for competing in the kind of artilces 

 manufactured by the different fishermen. 



Now, I will say a few words in regard to the measures adopted by the Govern- 

 ment for the promotion of the fisheries on the island. Under this head there are 

 only a few laws for the protection of salmon. The principal features of the legislation 

 protecting salmon is that no stationary apparatus is allowed in the river, and the 

 only kind of net allowed is the drag seine. The next feature is that all nets must be 

 taken out of the water from sunset to sunrise; that is, every night they must cease 

 fishing. The next prominent feature is that fishing of any kind is prohibited in the 

 spawning tributaries, aud during the spawning season the Government appoints fish 

 wardens to protect the fisheries from the poachers. In addition to this legislation in 

 regard to salmon there is also a law, which I have already mentioned, against the 

 use of diving apparatus for the capture of awabis. 



Next, let me refer to the measures adopted for encouraging the fishermen. The 

 Government has a fund which is loaned to the fishermen when they meet a bad 

 season and when they can not borrow the capital to furnish their outfit. The Gov 

 erument also exempts for a certain length of time from the fishery tax all those 

 fishermen who open new fishing-grounds or who make new fishing establishments, 

 wherever it is impossible to make them without the expenditure of large sums of 

 money. 



