The Fisheries of Japan 



203 



those of all other nations (1) in the 

 actual number of people making a live- 

 lihood thereby ; (2) in the relative num- 

 ber of persons engaged in and depend- 

 ent on the industry ; (3) in the quantity 

 of products taken annually from the 

 water; (4) in the relative importance 

 of fishery products in the domestic 

 economy ; (5) in the ingenuity and 

 skill shown by the people in devising 

 and using fishing appliances and prepar- 

 ing the catch for use ; (6) in the extent 

 to which all kinds of water products are 

 utilized ; (7) in the extent to which the 

 fisheries of foreign countries have been 

 studied and the best methods adapted 

 to home conditions ; (8) in the extent 

 to which aquiculture has been carried ; 

 (9) in the zeal and intelligence dis- 

 played by the government in promoting 

 the development of the fisheries and the 

 welfare of the fishing population. 



From the earliest times down to the 

 present day, fishing has supplied the 

 staple animal foods and a large portion 

 of the vegetable and mineral foods con- 

 sumed in Japan, and none of the other 

 great powers is now so dependent on the 

 water for subsistence. So important are 

 water products and so numerous are 

 their kinds and the methods of prepa- 

 ration, that I venture the assertion, from 

 what I have seen of domestic life in 

 Japan, that every day in every Japanese 

 family some form of fishery food is 

 served — I am almost ready to say at 

 every meal. 



The Japanese fishermen as a class are 

 hardy, skillful, energetic, sober, self- 

 reliant, to which qualities is superadded 

 a spirit of intense bravery and patriot- 

 ism, which makes them invaluable, in- 

 deed indispensable, in the crisis through 

 which Japan is now passing. With in- 

 genuity and deftness which, it seems to 

 me, are unsurpassed by any other peo- 

 ple, the Japanese have devised apparatus 

 and developed methods which centuries 

 ago brought their fisheries to a very high 

 -degree of effectiveness ; but not content 



with this, they have within our own 

 time superimposed upon and adapted 

 to their own already well-nigh perfect 

 fisheries all that is best and most useful 

 in those of other countries, so that today 

 fishing with the Japanese is more than 

 a mere industry — it is almost a fine art. 



EVERY KIND OF WATER PRODUCT IS 

 UTILIZED 



A striking feature of the Japanese 

 fisheries, and one which might reason- 

 ably be expected in a people so frugal and 

 ingenious, is the utilization of all kinds 

 of water products which in the United 

 States and in many European countries 

 are wholly or largely neglected. In 

 the matter of eating aquatic animals 

 and plants the Japanese have few preju- 

 dices, and what they do not eat they 

 utilize in other ways. As examples 

 I may mention marine vegetables, to 

 which further reference will be made, 

 and sharks, which are among the com- 

 monest and most wholesome of the Jap- 

 anese food-fishes. They are sent to the 

 markets in immense numbers, reach 

 there in excellent condition, and are 

 butchered as beeves are in our country. 

 I believe the time will come when we 

 shall have attained that degree of civil- 

 ization which will make fashionable the 

 eating of sharks, skates, and similar 

 fishes now generally discarded. Mean- 

 while many of us will be content to 

 eat the so-called "fresh fish" of our 

 markets, albeit days and weeks old, 

 reeking with putrefactive bacteria, and 

 kept ' ' fresh ' ' by contact with melting 

 ice when not exposed to the air of a 

 dirty stall. 



Some of the factors which underlie 

 Japan's prominence as a fishing nation 

 have already been indicated. The geo- 

 graphical position and the physical char- 

 acter of the country have, of course, 

 been potent in developing the fisheries. 

 The extension of the Empire diagonally 

 through 35 degrees of latitude and 38 

 degrees of longitude, the shape of the 



