THE FISHERIES OF JAPAN. 379 
abundance of whales in the seas of Japan. Most of the gunners employed are 
from Norway. 
Before closing I want to call your attention to some of the methods of 
fishing and fish culture introduced from America. The most important of 
these is the purse seine. It was first introduced into Japan by Mr. K. Sekigawa 
thirty years ago. After a good deal of encouragement, it was applied to the 
catching of sardines and herring; and now hundreds of such seines are being 
used on the southeast coast. It is not yet used for mackerel fishing, as in 
America. The artificial propagation of salmon and trout, which was intro- 
duced by the same man, is no less interesting; and Japan owes much to the 
kindness of the American authorities. There are now some 20 hatcheries in 
northern Japan, which annually yield about 35,000,000 fry. The fishermen are 
now in firm conviction that the beneficial results of artificial propagation of the 
salmon are beyond doubt. In fact, they have established by themselves 
several hatcheries at their fishing grounds. The rainbow trout, which was 
first introduced thirty years ago and new lots of which have been brought over 
several times since then, is thriving well in the lakes at Nikko and Aizu. 
I have great pleasure in expressing thanks in behalf of my country for the 
ever kind aid that the American authorities have given for the promotion of 
Japanese fisheries and fish culture. 
