68 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



JAPANESE METHOD OF CANNING SPIDER CRABS 



The caiininj^ of oral) meat in Japan had its inception in 1892 near 

 Otarii, in Hokkaido, and has developed rapidly into an important 

 branch of the fishing industry. The establishment of floating canner- 

 ies by the Japanese in 191G made possible an increased production 

 at a time when the shore canneries began to feel tlie effect of intensive 

 I'cal fishing which, statistics indicate, would have ended in severe 

 depletion. The fishing areas were greatly extended and the annual 

 output in 1928 had reached about 400,000 cases, as compared with 

 170,000 cases in tlie most favorable year of operation by shore 

 canneries. 



The fishing methods employed by these two types of canneries are 

 essentially the same, but they differ greatly from the methods used 

 for taking crabs on the North American coasts. At the present 

 time the Japanese floating canneries use nets of cotton twine, pre- 

 served by a tanning process, measuring 165 feet along the cork line, 

 153 feet along the lead line, and 81 feet in depth. The mesh is 18 

 inches stretched measure. The nets are held up by glass buoys, each 

 5 inches in diameter, attached to the cork line by manila ropes. The 

 buoy ropes are 30 to 50 per cent longer than the depth of water, thus 

 preventing the net from hanging as a vertical wall in which the crabs 

 would not become entangled. Rocks are used as leads, one sinker 

 being used for each float. 



The fishing season varies somewhat with the locality, but in general 

 it extends from March to November, and the most favorable months 

 are from April to August. 



Fishing is carried on at a depth of 20 to 30 fathoms from small boats 

 that accompany the floating canneries. Each boat has a crew of eight 

 men who operate 500 crab nets of the size described. The nets are 

 anchored in gangs or lines of 20 nets attached to each other, the last 

 net being marked with a buoy bearing a colored flag. Net after net 

 is spread until more than 10 miles of sea bottom around a floating 

 cannery may be covered. 



After two or three days the nets are lifted and the crabs removed. 

 Care is taken to prevent the crabs from being exposed to the sun for 

 any length of time as this is believed to be one of the causes of deterio- 

 ration and discoloration of the meat. 



The crabs are prepared for canning by first removing the back shell 

 and washing the exposed parts thoroughly. They are then placed in 

 large wire baskets in boiling water forlO to 12 minutes after which they 

 are immediately cooled in salt water. Rapid cooling is said to prevent 

 the crab meat from losing its normal color and later turning black in 

 the can. 



After cooling, the meat is removed from the legs and body and 

 carefully separated into four grades based upon quality. The best 

 quality crab meat is ol)tained from the first segment of the legs, and 

 the body meat is considered the poorest in quality. Other grades 

 are obtained from the smaller segments of the legs. The meat is 

 again washed in cold water and all extraneous debris and insufficiently 

 cooked meat removed. 



The washed product is allowed to dry on trays, each tray containing 

 only one grade of meat. When thoroughly dry it is delivered to the 

 "cutters," who trim the pieces to fit the cans. From the "cutters" 

 the meat is conveyed in porcelain dishes to the "hand packers." 



