120 FISHERIES -,-F THE UNITED STATES. [14] 



ping, the Shrimp are washed clean, boiled about ten minutes in a very 

 thick brine, and then allowed to steam in a covered basket or barrel, 

 after which they are spread out and dried on a platform of boards. 



The Shrimp fishery of the Gulf coast is mainly confined to Louisiana 

 and Texas, although Shrimp may possibly occur in equal abundance in 

 other sections. The greater part of the supplies come from Barataria 

 Bay, Louisiana, and Matagorda and Galveston Bays, Texas. Both 

 seines and cast-nets are used by the shrimpers, who station themselves 

 along the shores in the shrimping region. The season extends, more 

 or less, throughout the entire year ; but fishing appears to be conducted 

 mainly from October to April. New Orleans is an important Shrimp 

 market, and derives the greater part of its salt-water supplies from the 

 grassy bottoms of Barataria Bay. The River Shrimp (Palcemon oMonis) 

 is taken for food in the Mississippi River, near New Orleans, in cane 

 baskets, sunk to the bottom hear the banks. Large quantities of 

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

 throughout the United States and to Europe. Over 200 persons, mainly 

 women and girls, were employed in this industry, in 1880, the production 

 for that year having amounted to about 310,000 one and one-half pound 

 cans. 



The Shrimp and Prawn fisheries of the Pacific coast are mainly con- 

 fined 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. Crangon 

 franciscorum, being the larger species of true Shrimp, and also gene- 

 rally the more abundant one, figures most conspicuously in the fishery, 

 but Crangon vulgaris forms a large percentage of the quantity taken 

 and disposed of. These two species are fished for mainly in the deeper 

 waters (1 J to 20 fathoms), near shore, of the two bays above mentioned. 

 The two species of Pandalus (P. Dana?, and P. sp.) are found associated 

 together, in moderate depths of water off San Francisco Bay, between 

 Point Reyes and the Farallone Islands, and during the two years prior 

 to 1880 were more commonly seen in the San Francisco markets than 

 formerly. 



For the capture of Shrimp and Prawns, the Chinese use a conical, 

 bag-shaped net, about 20 to 25 feet long and 10 feet across at the larger 

 end, which is the mouth. From this end the net tapers toward the 

 other, where there is an opening only about a foot across, to permit of 

 emptying the contents of the net. One side of the mouth, or larger 

 end, is furnished with a line of weights and the other with a line of 

 floats, to hold it open while in use. The opening at the smaller end 

 closes by means of a ." sphincter," or puckering string. The mesh of the 

 net measures from one to one and one-fourth inches at the mouth, and 

 gradually diminishes to about one-fourth of an inch at the smaller end. 

 The Shrimp are first carried fresh to the city market, and those remain- 



