352 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

 175.— NOTES ON THE FISB AND FISRERIES OF JAPAN. 



By CHARLES H. BALDWIN. 



The Japanese are a very poor people, and you will probably realize 

 it more wlien I tell you that the lower Government officials receive a 

 salary of only 8 or 10 yen per month, and on this in many cases they 

 have to supjDort large familes, pay house rent, &g. Ten yen is equal to 

 $0 silver. In feet, without the least exaggeration, were the inhabitants 

 to eat three square meals a day, as we do, the nation would become bank- 

 rupt in less than three months. Fortunately rice and vegetables, their 

 only diet, are cheap. Clothing and house rent ditto. 



Fish is a luxury and dearer here than at home. They are to a great" 

 extent warm-water fish ; at least, all that are caught in this section of 

 the country. Spanish mackerel are quite plentiful. We have also the 

 true mackerel, but for some unexplained reason it is never found fat in 

 our markets. In fact, as we have them they are genuine leather-bellies, 

 and the poorest fish in the market. Sharks, skates, and dogfish are 

 eaten, in fact anything looking like a fish, no matter how far gone, will 

 find consumers. Flounders, such as we used to catch at home from the 

 wharves, sell readily here for about 15 or 20 cents. 



We have two excellent species of salt-water fish, which I think would 

 be appreciated by our fishermen, viz, the tar {Sawanus margmolUs) and 

 the sawara. The former is shaped something like the shad, but of 

 larger size, often 2 feet in length. The meat is firm and white with- 

 out any fat, but an albuminous jelly makes up for the lack of this and 

 gives the fish a fine flavor. The sawara is shaped much like the barra- 

 cuda and spotted in the same way, but is much larger, has some fat, 

 and the flesh has a fine flavor. 



The methods pursued Uy fishermen here in taking fish are very de- 

 structive and tend to make fish scarce. Very few are caught by hook 

 and line, but mostly in drag-nets. Some time ago a friend of mine, 

 editor of the local paper published in Kobe, whose father is one of the 

 Government inspectors of salmon fisheries in Scotland, visited the 

 salmon-trout fisheries on Lake Biwa. These fish, by the way, never go 

 to the sea, although the affluent of the lake would permit it, but ascend 

 the small streams running into the lake to spawn. At the mouth of 

 one of the principal streams where the largest fishery is situated, we 

 noticed a large net stretched completely across the river, and we asked 

 how the fish could ascend the river. " We never allow any to go up," 

 replied the fishermen quite naively. This we found to be the cause of 

 the fish becoming scarce. The local government has now removed the 

 obstruction. There is a fish-breeding establishment on the lake, under 

 the direction of natives who learned the art in the United States. 



KiYOTO, Japan, 1883. 



