THE SHEIMP AND PRAWN FISHERIES. 807 



building up of a large and important business. So far they had not been able to supply the demands 

 made upon them. They have all the most improved machinery and appliances for doing an exten- 

 sive business, but during the first year had not worked up to their full capacity. Their methods 

 of preparing and canning the shrimp are the same as those practiced at New Orleans. They cal 

 culate to work about one hundred and seventy-five days out of the year, and to put up about 1,00<J 

 cans per day ; but last year they had worked only about one hundred and fifty days, preparing only 

 450 cans a day,' or a total of 76,500 cans for the season. These at the rate of 17 cents per can were 

 valued at $13,005. The cans are flat, cylindrical in shape, and contain one pound of shrimp meat 

 each. During the shrimping season very little other fishing is done in this locality, and this firm 

 engage some sixty seiners to obtain shrimp for them. In the factory about forty persons in all are 

 employed, of whom the majority are women and girls, whose duty it is to prepare the shrimp for 

 packing. The men superintend the work, seal the cans, &c. The amount of capital invested is 

 estimated at $5,000. 



(6) THE SHRIMP AXD PRAWN FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 



4. THE SHRIMP FISHERY. 



EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF THE FISHERY. The shrimp fishery of the Pacific coast of the 

 United States is by far the most important of any there in the line of marine invertebrates, the 

 exports alone of shrimps from San Francisco in 1880 having been valued at about $100,000. Both 

 species of California shrimp (Crangon franciscorum and Crangon vulgaris) are taken together, sold 

 fresh in the markets of San Francisco and elsewhere, and boiled and dried for exportation to China 

 and the Sandwich Islands. Crangon franciscorum being the larger and also generally the more abund- 

 ant species, is the one that figures most conspicuously in the shrimp fishery ; but Crangon vulgaris 

 also forms a large percentage of the quantity taken and disposed of. This industry is controlled 

 almost entirely by the Chinese, who prepare the larger part of their catch for shipment to their 

 native country. 



Although both species of shrimp range along the entire Pacific coast of the United States, as far 

 south as Point Conception, they are taken for food in large quantities at only a few localities, prin- 

 cipally in San Francisco Bay and Toinales Bay. In both of these bays there are numerous small 

 scattered colonies of Chinese who devote their entire time and energy to the capture and prepa- 

 ration of shrimps, mainly for exportation to China, only a small quantity being sent to the Sand- 

 wich Islands, for the consumption of the Chinese living there. In San Francisco Bay, there is a 

 Chinese settlement at Bay View, numbering about twenty-four men, with an outfit of 100 seines 

 and ten boats, who fish mainly for shrimps. Another similar settlement of ten Chinese exists about 

 2 miles farther south, and still others are located farther up the bay, in San Mateo and Santa 

 Clara Counties, and others also in Marin and Contra Costa Counties. In Marin County, along the 

 coast south of San Rafael, there are two colonies of Chinese, numbering perhaps one hundred men 

 in all, whose principal occupation is shrimp-catching. At each of these stations both 0. francis- 

 corum and G. vulgaris are taken and prepared. The process of capture and drying, which is more 

 or less the same at all the places, is described as follows for the colony at Bay View : 



METHODS OF CATCHING SHRIMP. The seine or drag net used by the Chinese for catching 

 shrimp is a conical bag-like net, 2d to 25 feet long, and about 10 feet across at the larger end, 

 which is the mouth. It tapers toward the other end, which is about 1 foot broad and open to 

 permit of emptying the contents of the net. The mouth is furnished with a line of weights on one 

 side, and with floats on the other, to hold it open while in use; and the lower end is closed at the 



