150 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



more or less, throughout the entire year; but fishing appears to be con- 

 ducted mainly from October to April. ITew Orleans is an important 

 shrimp center, and derives the greater part of its salt-water supplies 

 from the grassy bottoms of Barataria Bay. Three varieties of shrimp 

 are recognized in the New Orleans markets : the Gulf shrimp, above 

 referred to; the lake slnimp, found in the lakes and inclosed bays 

 inside of the Gulf coast; and the inver shrimp, from the banks of the 

 Mississippi. The lake shrimp are obtained only during the equinoctial 

 seasons; and the river shrimp, in small quantities, during the warmer 

 half of the year. The latter species is caught by means of cane baskets, 

 suuk to the bottom near the banks. Shipments are made to Xew 

 Orleans from the coast in steamers or luggars, without ice. The prices 

 paid to the tishermen on the Louisiana coast are about 3 cents per 

 pound, and on the Texas coast about 25 cents per bucket. l^>esh 

 shrimp are very much esteemed as food in New Orleans, and large 

 quantities are canned both in New Orleans and Galveston, for shipment 

 throughout the United States and to Europe. 



Sltrimp canning. — In 1880, there were only two establishments in the 

 United States for the canning of shrimp. One was located at New 

 Orleans, the other at Galveston, and both were then doing a successful 

 business; they did not, however, confine themselves entirely to the 

 preparation of shrimp. The process of canning shrimp is similar to 

 that for crabs and lobsters, as practiced at the North. Tlie season in- 

 cludes about five montlis of the fall and winter. Over two hundred per- 

 sons, mainly women and girls, are employed at this time. The shrimp 

 are put up in one and one-half pound tins, the i)rod action for 1880 

 amounting to about 310,000 such cans. 



3. THE SHRIMP AND PRAWN FISHERY OF THE PACIFIC 



COAST. 



The shrimp and prawn fisheries of the Pacific coast are mainly confined 

 to the vicinity of San Francisco and Tomales Bays, California, and are 

 controlled almost entirely by the Chinese, who export the greater 'part 

 of their catch to China. A small quantity is also shipped by them for 

 the use of their countrymen in the Sandwich Islands. Crangonfran- 

 ciscorum, being the larger species of true shrimp, and also generally the 

 more abundant one, figures most conspicuously in the fishery, but Crangon 

 vulgaris iorms a large percentage of the quantity taken ai)d dis])osed of 

 These two species are fished for mainly in the deeper waters (12 to 20 

 fathoms), near shore, of the two bays above mentioned. The two species 

 of Pandalus are found associated together in moderate depths of water 

 off San Francisco Bay, between Point Reyes and the Faralloue Islands, 

 and during the two years prior to 1880 were more commonly seen in the 

 San Francisco markets than formerly. The reason assigned for this 

 fact was that as the sujjply offish in the bay began to greatly diminish 



