FISHERIES AND GUANO INDUSTRY OF PERU. 347 
In this case only four fishes other than the congrios were taken (two sea 
basses and two rays), and it is significant that the congrio appears not to be taken 
in any numbers except by the use of the espinel. The congrio, eaten fresh, is 
considered an unsurpassed food fish, and, as will appear on a later page, it gives 
the best salt product prepared in Peru. It seems surprising, therefore, that the 
espinel is not more extensively used. The method is relatively laborious, but 
the yield is in proportion to the labor. Undoubtedly, the reluctance of the fisher- 
men to use it is due, not so much to the amount of work involved, as to its rela- 
tive intricacy, the necessity of much preparatory work in the securing of bait, 
the baiting of the many hooks, the arrangement of the lines in the tubs, and, 
finally, the constant care required in the manipulation of the line in order to 
avoid mischievous tangles. 
At Callao the espinel is not often used, and then only in a small way, the 
fishermen preferring those methods which, however much actual labor they may 
involve, require the least forethought. The congrio is practically unknown to 
the market there. Even at Mollendo, where the effectiveness of the method is 
not infrequently demonstrated, it is not regularly used, the fishermen choosing 
rather to throw a shot of dynamite near the rocks and scoop the fish from the 
surface. Undoubtedly there are extensive fishing grounds which will become 
available only with the extension of the espinel fishery or by the introduction of 
the bottom trawl-net (‘‘red barradera”’). 
Dynamite must be mentioned as one of the common methods of fishing. 
This abuse is certainly working an incalculable damage, especially in certain 
regions. It is prohibited by the government, but the efforts to prevent its use 
have so far been ineffectual, and the practice is at present the most serious 
defect of the fishery.“ f 
PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS. 
Some of the methods of preservation employed are of especial interest, 
but before particular mention is made of these, a word may be said as to the 
significance of the fish-preservation industry to the country. 
@ A list of apparatus used for taking sea fish in Peru would be made nearly complete by adding the 
following to those that have been mentioned above: The dredge, or “rastra,’”’ employed in the scallop 
fishery, especially at Callao, and a rather better rastra formerly used in the abortive pearl fishery at 
Sechura and Paita; the net for turtles, or “tortugera;”’ the gig, or ‘“‘fisga,” for taking the flounders at 
Callao, a little oil being sometimes poured on the water to make the surface smooth; the “ bolador,”’ 
made of wood in the form of the dasher of an old-fashioned churn, which is thrust sharply into the 
water, making a loud sound to drive the fish into the gill net or the trammel net; the pole and hook 
(“gancho’’), for taking gobies and devilfishes from the rocks; the lance (‘‘harpén”’), thrown at the larger 
fish from the shore, from a pier, or from the boat; the harpoons, as rarely used in the fishery of sword- 
fishes (““peje-espada”) at Mollendo; and the ordinary harpoon and hand-lance outfit employed in the 
shore fishery of whales at Tumbes. We are not here concerned with the various baskets and hand nets 
with which the fresh-water shrimps are taken, or with the methods employed in the lake and river 
fisheries of the interior. 
