FISHING NATIONS AND THE FISHERIES 281 



and preserve fish in the lagoons. 1 A limited company 

 has recently been formed at Ravenna with the object 

 of leasing the fish-bearing lagoons and sub-letting them 

 to shareholders. The most important Russian fisheries 

 are those of the Black Sea and the Caspian, where 

 sturgeon, shad, and herring are taken. There are preserv- 

 ing factories at Odessa, Balaklava, Otchakow, Kertch, 

 and Theodosia. The Sapojnikoff factories were founded 

 in Astrakhan in 1796. The sturgeon, bream, carp, 

 and herring of the estuary of the Volga are the object 

 of an active fishery, which is closed from the I5th May 

 to the 1 5th July. Once landed, the fish are cleaned and 

 cut up by a staff of 4,000 workmen. 



Leaving Europe, let us consider the fisheries of Canada 

 and Japan. The Canadian fisheries are among the most 

 important in the world. Their annual yield is worth 

 ^4,200,000. Salmon, lobsters, cod and herring do most 

 to make up this enormous sum ; then come mackerel, 

 flounders, and whitefish. In Japan steam-trawling is 

 in its infancy. Nearly all the fishermen use small boats 

 there were lately no less than 200,000. From the coast 

 fisheries, from around their islands, from the banks of 

 Korea, from the Saghaliens and Kamtschatka, the 

 Japanese derive from 5,200,000 to ^5,600,000 annually ; 

 mostly from the sale of sardines and gilt-heads. The 

 overflowing energy of the Japanese is now being directed 

 to the modern aspects of fishery. After the war with 

 Russia 40,000,000 yen were devoted to the establishment 

 of fishery companies. 



The French fisheries, during the course of the nine- 

 teenth century, have steadily augmented. 2 Between 1810 



1 See p. 136. 



2 Here are the average figures of the French fishery harvest : 

 cod, 720,000 ; herring, ^560,000 : sardines, anchovies, sprats, 



