BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 425 



82.— NOTES ON THE PACIFIC COAST TRADE IN SHELLS, SHRlIViPS, 



COD, AND SALMON. 



By WILLIAM II. BALL. 



Exports by sea from San Francisco, Cal., during the year 1882. 



The above table is compiled from data scattered through the Annual 

 Market lie view, Sau Francisco, January, 1883. The value of the Hali- 

 otis pearl shells (abalones) was $23,455, a slight increase over 1881. The 

 value of the salmon is given as $791,593, though, owing to the existence 

 of a few misprints, the collected details as printed sum up rather less. 

 From 1870 to 1882, inclusive, the period covering the Californian canned 

 salmon industry, 1,728,832 packages, of two dozen cans each, have been 

 exported by sea from that State, valued at $9,993,211. 



Of eod, 709,000 came from Siberian and 577,000 from Alaskan waters. 



Entire accuracy cannot be and is not claimed for these figures. 



Exports by rail are not included. Over 10,000 pounds of Haliotis 

 shells went east by rail in the last month of 1882. 



The dry shrimps are caught in nets, dried on a mat over a fire, 

 thrashed, winnowed, and put up in packages by the Chinese in Cali- 

 fornia. The meats aie used as food, the shells as a very potent fer- 

 tilizer. The latter all go to China, but the Chinese in the Sandwich 

 Islands and South America import a small amount of the dry shrimp 

 meats from San Francisco. 



The Haliotis is H. rufescens and H. cracherodii chiefly, known locally 

 as "abalones," a corruption of the Spanish "orejones," sea ears. 



The pearl oyster is the Meleagrina californica Gr., and comes from 

 Lower Californian waters solely — mostly from the Gulf of California. 

 Other dry shells are exported for ornamental purposes, some being 

 pearly and others merely used in shell- work, &c. 



