PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES 701 



or brackish walor. No Jajiaiioso would Itiiiik of giving a salmon with red anrl 

 black sjjots to a friend for a New Year's present, and spotted fish never realize more 

 than half the price obtainable for clean white fisii. The salmon should be split up 

 the belly and should be salted with fine salt. Coarse salt always tears the flesh 

 of the fish when being rubbed in. Care should be taken that the salmon are not 

 oversalted. 



Scmga salting is a more improved and sanitary method than that 

 of straight piclding and is used when the fish are being prepared for 

 the European market. Selected fish are cut open along the belly and 

 the viscera and gills are carefully removed. In order that the salt may 

 penetrate the flesh more thoroughly, the flesh on the inside is scored 

 several times. The fish are then carefully washed and rubbed with 

 brushes, after wliich they are kept on ice for 24 hours. The brine 

 is carefidly prepared and very strong. When properly struck the 

 fish are repacked into barrels. 



"Kolodka" is a very crude and cheap method of salting. The fish 

 are half salted and half dried without being cut open, and are sold at 

 the place where prepared. 



The natives prepare a great many salmon for the winter use of 

 themselves and their dogs, the same as do the Alaskan natives. The 

 fish are dried without the use of salt. The product is known as 

 "youkala." 



Some salmon bellies are also cut out and salted, although this has 

 never attained to prominence. 



Some fresh salmon, as well as salted, are smoked for local con- 

 sumption. 



Barrels, or tierces, for packing salmon are made from cedar, larch, 

 or fir, with a net capacity of 900 to 1,000 pounds of fish, and are 

 bound with wooden and iron hoops. 



THE SALMON FISHERIES OF JAPAN 



Outside of Karafuto (that portion of Sakhalin Island, south of 50° 

 north latitude, which belongs to Japan) and the Kuril Islands, the 

 salmon fisheries of Japan are comparatively small, the principal por- 

 tion of the immense catches made by Japanese fishermen being along 

 the coasts of Siberia and Karafuto. 



All of the five species of salmon found on the American side are 

 to be found in the waters of Sakhalin during the usual spawning 

 periods. 



The chum salmon (0. keta), which is known in Japan as "sake," 

 and when canned as "pink" salmon, is to be found on Hokushu 

 Island, running up the various streams for spawning purposes from 

 September to December. 



On the same island is to be found also the masu (0. masou), a 

 salmon, according to Doctor Jordan,^* very similar to the humpback, 

 the scales being a little larger, the caudal fin without black spots, 

 and the back usually immaculate. It is fairly abundant in the 

 streams of Kokushu, the island formerly known as Yezo, and is found 

 novyhere else in the world. The author had an opportunit}^ to ex- 

 amine a dry-salted masu (it might be well to state here that in Jap- 

 anese masu means "trout") at the fish house of the Royal Fish Co., 

 in Vancouver, British Columbia, in January, 1916. The manager, 

 Mr. Emy, had imported the fish from his own country. Both in 



" Fishes, p. 296. By David Starr Jordan. New York, 1907. 



