NATIONALITY AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 39 



Chinese cariug nothing for the future fisheries. These fish are either salted and dried, or are left 

 to spoil on the beach. The waste is said to be enormous. 



Sv\ Mateo and San Francisco Counties, California. — In the town of San Mateo is a 

 company of 7 Chinamen. They fish with seines and ship their fish to San Francisco or peddle 

 them fresh in the neighborhood. 



In San Francisco County the Chinese fishermen devote their attention to catching shrimp 

 with purse-nets. With the shrimp small fish of other species are taken and afterwards salted and 

 dried. At Bay View there is a Chinese colony consisting of about 24 men, who, with a hundred 

 seines and eleven junks, are engaged in shrimping. There is another colony of 10 Chinamen 2 

 miles farther south. The Chinamen arrange the large shrimp, after removing the carapace, on 

 two sticks of cane placed parallel to each other; these sticks passing through the flesh of the 

 shrimp. These, they sell for 30 cents per pound. Others are sold with the carapace and legs 

 removed, simply as meats. The total catch of shrimp and prawn for this county is estimated at 

 30,000 pounds. 



In former years the Chinamen in San Francisco County were accustomed to eat shark fins, 

 both fresh and dried, which were by them esteemed a great delicacy. The entire business of 

 shrimping was then in the hands of the Chinese. Their operations extended from Mare Island to 

 Angel Island. The bulk of the shrimp caught by the Chinese with their fine-meshed nets was 

 shipped to China in sacks. Large quantities of shrimp were sold also to oyster dealers in San 

 Francisco who, after boiling them, would set them before their customers whilst waiting for oysters, 

 thus to temporarily satisfy their appetites. The shells of the shrimp were shipped by Chinamen 

 to China, who paid to the owners of their fishing-grounds a tax of from 50 cents to $1 a month. 

 They also used to catch sturgeon, from whose backbone they would pull with a hook the inside 

 nerve ; this, which resembles a piece of macaroni and is nearly 3 feet long, is dried aud shipped to 

 China as a rare tid-bit for the epicures. 



In 1.S76 the Italian Fishermen's Union of San Francisco addressed a letter to one of the State 

 Senators, the main object of which was to direct attention to the ruinous methods employed in fishing 

 by the Chinese, their total disregard of the size of the fish they caught, and their waste of all the 

 sturgeon they took, excepting the one nerve in the back above referred to. They fished so execs 

 sively that often they would ship to China as much as 812,000 worth of shrimp and dried fish per 

 month. The. Italians, therefore, asked that the Chinese fishermen be compelled to adopt a system 

 less destructive. 



Alameda County, California. — In Alameda County there were established in 1S70 Chinese 

 fishing colonies which are now deserted. These fisheries were principally for the capture of smelt 

 and herring from the wharf, which they carried on by the aid of very tine square nets, from which 

 not even the very smallest minnows could escape. They would drop their net about every twenty 

 minutes ; when hauled up, a boat would be pushed out under the net, and the contents of the net 

 dumped into the boat. Thousands were thus taken every day. 



Marin County, California. — Near Point Sau Pedro, Marin County, there are two colonies 

 of Chinese, numbering in all about 112 persons, who fish for shrimp. These they ship to San 

 Francisco, after having dried them on the hill-sides and threshed them, in Chinese style, in order 

 to separate the hull from the meat. 



As will have been noticed, the peculiarity in the construction of the nets used by the Chinamen 

 is that the meshes are extremely fine, the end in view being the capture of all fish, large and small, 

 young and old: and many complaints have been made regarding their use of this style of net, 

 especially by the fishermen at Soquel, Santa Cruz County. 



