26 FISHING IN THE PRIAMUR DISTRICT OF SIBERIA, 
Import of herring at Shanghai.—According to the ‘‘Priamurskaya 
Vyedomosti,”’ the agent of Commerce and Industry for China and 
Japan states that the Shanghai market is supplied with fish similar 
to herring, caught in Chinese waters, and the importation of herring 
depends upon the local catch of this fish, of which there is not enough 
to satisfy the demands. Large foreign firms import quantities of 
American and Japanese herring, the price varying from $2.37 to 
$2.84 per hundred pounds. The average weight of one herring is 
about 1 pound. 
At the end of March or the beginning of April the catch of fish in 
Chinese waters begins, and therefore the prices on imported herring 
decrease. ‘Toward warm weather the demand ceases altogether. 
American herring, of an average weight of one-fourth pound, 
have a good market in Shanghai during autumn, winter, and spring, 
and they bring from $2.37 to $3.32 per hundred pounds. 
All kinds of fish dried in the open air find a good market in Shang- 
hai during the entire year. The prices range from $2.84 to $3.79 
per hundred pounds, depending upon the kind of fish, the smaller 
sizes bringing better prices. The fish are packed in bales. 
During recent years the Vladivostok fish dealers have made attempts 
to introduce their herring into China, but notwithstanding that their 
herring are better than the local or the American product the. 
attempts have not been very successful. This is explained by the 
fact that the buyers of fish at Vladivostok do not live up to their 
contracts. There were instances where the boxes contained more 
Chinese cheap salt than fish. However, fish of good quality that 
have succeeded in reaching Shanghai have been well received, and 
consignments before the Chinese spring holidays have brought as 
much as $8.50 per hundred pounds. 
Up to the present Russian fish dealers have been dealing through 
small commission agents, whose services’ were not satisfactory. 
Unfortunately, almost all of the Russian fishermen in Vladivostok 
are without sufficient capital to place the industry on a business basis. 
They have not the money Ao secure a large catch early enough in the 
spring to enable them to deliver it to the market before the Chinese 
holidays and before the local fish appear on the market. The 
principal run of herring occurs after the Chinese holidays, and there- 
fore arrangements are needed to enable the fishermen to preserve the 
fish until the fall, when the market again becomes profitable. 
AMUR RIVER. 
The figures obtainable of the Amur River fishing are far less accu- 
rate than those of sea fishing. The control of this fishing is intrusted 
to Government foresters and not to special men, as in the sea-fishing 
