FISHING IN THE PRIAMUR DISTRICT OF SIBERIA. % 
sufficient for the trade. According to section 3 of the contract, the 
Volunteer Fleet is obliged to put on the line not less than four steam- 
ers having a carrying capacity of not less than 1,000 tons each and 
adapted for northern navigation. Each steamer must have accom- 
modations for not less than 20 cabin and 100 deck passengers, and 
regardless 6f the fact that the number of steamers has doubled, it is 
not sufficient for the entire satisfaction of the fishermen’s needs, 
thereby causing heavy losses. 
On account of the limited number of vessels, the Volunteer Fleet 
is forced to make long round trips to distant points with calls at 
many side ports. When leaving Vladivostok the vessels take on 
sufficient coal and water for the round trip. This occupies two- 
thirds of the carrying capacity and leaves very little space for cargo. 
These long trips force the greater number of the fishermen to ship men 
and provisions- one and one-half months before they are required, 
and to hold their product a month after the catch is over. Owing 
to the long time that goods are on the way, the fishermen are obliged 
to salt their products very heavily, which tends to lower their price 
on the Russian market. Consequently, the fishermen are obliged 
to depend on the Japanese market. The high charges of the Volun- 
teer Fleet for loading and discharging, and charges for c. o. d. deliv- 
ery (2 per cent), add.14 to 15 cents per pood of 36.1128 pounds to the 
cost of fish products from Kamchatka. It is claimed that so long 
as the Volunteer Fleet continues to be the only steamship company 
serving the fishing industry, there is not much hope of a healthy and 
normal development of the fisheries. Also, the element of risk 
to the average fisherman is so great and so hard to calculate, that 
the fishing industry, which in Japan represents a safe commercial 
undertaking, in Russia becomes a game of chance. 
Under present conditions the fishermen are subjected to the 
following risks: (1) Late arrival at the stations with men and pro- 
visions; (2) inability to ship prepared products; (8) enforced-pay of 
workmen for overtime spent at the stations; (4) impossibility of 
obtaining additional salt and barrels if the catch is excessive, and of 
replacing men in case of strikes, for most of the stations are visited 
by steamers only twice each season. 
From the time the fisherman arrives at the station, until his de- 
parture, he is without communication with the outside world. 
Although a telegraph line was built over a year ago along the 
shores of Kamchatka, it is not in operation owing to the lack of 
operators and other difficulties. 
