32 
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Chinese boats . — The junks used by the Chinese fishermen of San Diego 
are mostly built at San Francisco. Since 1880 their number has been 
13, aggregating 141.01 tons, with a value of $5,200, and manned by 52 
Chinese fishermen. The junks vary from 7 to 15 tons. They carry no 
papers except an alien certificate, which insures to the crew permission 
to land upon their return to the city. In addition to their Chinese 
names, the junks are numbered by the customs officers, and are known 
to them by their numbers only. 
The junks return as seldom as possible, but if they have occasion to 
visit San Diego, with or without cargo, they report at once to the cus- 
tom-house and pay a tonnage tax of 83 cents per ton; $1.50 for enter- 
ing, 67 cents for survey, and 20 cents for a certificate. It is currently 
reported that, to avoid payment of these customs dues, the junks often 
transfer their cargoes of abalone shells, meats, etc., to small boats that 
come out to sea, off San Diego, for this purpose, and to bring supplies. 
Apparatus . — The Chinese use large drag nets or seines, called “ bag 
nets” by the American fishermen, because in the bunt, or center, is a 
large bag-shaped pocket into which the fish find their way. These bag 
nets vary from 250 to 300 fathoms in length, and the bag or pocket is 
about 40 feet deep, with a wing extending on each side to a distance 
of from about 120 to 140 fathoms, and having a depth of 2 fathoms. 
The wings are 2 inch mesh and the bag J-iuch mesh. Each junk carries 
one or more small flat-bottom boats, somewhat resembling the sharpie 
inform, for the purpose of collecting abalone shells and for other fishing 
operations. 
Methods of fishing , preparation of products, etc . — The catch of the 
Chinese junks consists chiefly of abalones gathered from the rocky 
shores along the Mexican coast. The meats are taken from the shells 
and boiled on shore in rude vats made of sheet iron, and stone or bricks. 
Both the shells and meats are then packed in sacks containing from 100 
to 125 pounds each. On the arrival of a junk her cargo is sold to the 
dealers, by whom the shells are culled and repacked. The products are 
then forwarded to San Francisco, whence most of the meats are exported 
to China and the shells shipped to France. 
In the bag-net or drag-seine fishery prosecuted by the Chinese in San 
Diego Bay and vicinity, the net is run out in shallow water at some 
distance from the land in localities known to be favorite resorts for cer- 
tain species of fish. From each wing of the net a line extends to the 
shore, and it is gradually drawn in by the fishermen until the ends reach 
the land. The fish inclosed naturally find their way into the bag in 
the bunt, which is at last drawn on shore with its contents. The mesh 
of this bag is so small that there is no chance for escape of the smallest 
fish, and many are taken only an inch or two in length. Sometimes 
the Chinese fishermen, during the months of March, April, and May, 
stretch their nets at high tide entirely across a small stream, and at low 
tide draw them in again filled with smelt, mullet, and other small fish, 
