SIXTKK.NNH ANNUM. MKKTING. I9 



ino^ L>round at present is limited more to the inshore, being from 

 five to twenty-five miles fr(jm the sh(jre and in water of loo or 

 200 fathoms deep. The gear used for capture is the trawl ex- 

 clusive! v, the construction of which is on the same principle as 

 the trawls used in tlie New England fisheries of this country. 

 The vessel used in this work is \ery small. It is an open, flat 

 bottf)med bc^at, about 36 feet in length, and is furnished with a 

 single mast and one large cliuns}' rectangular sail. The most 

 common method of treating the cod is to take off the head and 

 bones and dry them very hard, like the Norwegian stockfish. 

 The second way is to split and thoroughly cure them with salt. 

 Still, some of the fish of the early catch are just gutted, slightly 

 cured and sent awav f(jr more immetliate consumption. 



Another iniportant fishery is the ivvashi {Clitpca luelanostictd), a 

 kind of herring that comes into tiie open sandy beach of the 

 eastern coast in the months of June and July. Their schools are 

 not so large as those of the spring herring, and are sometimes 

 mixed witli "seven dots" {Etnu/ieus niicropus) and also with the 

 young of the spring herring. The principal contrivance for the 

 capture of this species is the drag-seine. The fish are all made 

 into scrap and oil. 



Next, I will mention the trepang fisheries. Trepangs, or sea- 

 cucumbers, occur in the sandy bottom of the sea all along the 

 coast, and are gathered by the use of a dredge. The fish caught 

 are gutted and boiled in a decoction of mugglewolts or arte- 

 mesia, and are then spread on a sort of cleat with bamboo bot- 

 tom, and dried for exportation to the Chinese market. 



Another fish for the Chinese market and of great importance, 

 is the awabi. Tlie awabi is a gigantic gasteropod, which is 

 known on the Pacific coast of this country as " abalone." It is 

 speared from an open boat just like the dories used by the New 

 England cod fishermen, in water from two to four and a half 

 fathoms deep. The fishermen formerly used cod oil in order to 

 look into the bottom of this deep water, but water glass is now 

 almost universally used fcjr this purpose. About five years ago 

 some adventurous fisherman introduced the diving apparatus^ 

 but in consequence of its injurious effect upon the propagation 

 of the shellfish it was finally i)rohibiLed by legislation The 



