The 



Fisheries of Japan 



pulp through coarse cloths. The busi- 

 ness began about 1760. In the early 

 years the product was sold in bulk, but 

 at present the entire output, for conven- 

 ience in handling and using, is in two 

 forms — slender sticks about a foot long, 

 used locally in preparing food-jellies or 

 exported to America and Europe for 

 making culture media in bacteriological 

 work, and square bars 12 to 15 inches 

 long, which are sold largely in Holland 

 for use in clarifying gin. The Japanese 

 name for this product is kanten, mean- 

 ing " cold weather," in allusion to the 

 fact that it can be prepared only during 

 winter, as a low temperature is neces- 

 sary for the solidification of the jelly. 

 Five hundred establishments are de- 

 voted to the manufacture of kanten, and 

 the output in 1902 was 3,000,000 pounds, 

 valued at $750,000. The identical alga 

 from which the Japanese make their 

 kanten abounds on our own coasts, but 

 not a piece of it is now utilized. 



EDIBLE SEAWEEDS 



One other seaweed must be referred to, 

 because the supply comes almost entirely 

 from planted grounds, and in the culti- 

 vation of marine vegetables the Japanese 

 stand alone. In all parts of the world 

 there occurs a red alga known to British 

 and Americans as laver, which was for- 

 merly a popular food in the British Isles 

 and sparingly eaten in the United States. 

 From a very remote period the Japanese 

 have utilized this plant, and for centu- 

 ries — just how long is not known — have 

 carried on an ingenious form of cultiva- 

 tion. In the fall arrangements for the 

 seaweed crop are made by sinking into 

 the muddy bottoms of bays numerous 

 bundles of brush or bamboo. These 

 bundles, which are prepared on shore and 

 taken to the grounds at low tide, are 

 planted in regular lines, deep holes being 

 made for them by means of an elongated 

 conical wooden frame, with handles, 

 whichis forced into the mud by the weight 

 of the operator. The brush intercepts 



and affords attachment for the seaweed 

 spores, which grow so rapidly that by 

 January the plants have attained their 

 full size and the cutting of the crop be- 

 gins. The plants die about the time of 

 the vernal equinox, and the active busi- 

 ness is at a standstill until the ensuing 

 autumn. The best grounds for the cul- 

 tivation of laver are in Tokyo Bay and 

 are leased by the government. In 1901 

 the area planted with brush was 951 

 acres, and the value of the crop was over 

 $148,000, or $156 an acre. In 1903 the 

 same area yielded $300,000, or over $3 10 

 an acre. The total area of cultivated 

 grounds in the whole of Japan is about 

 2,300 acres, and the value of the seaweed 

 grown thereon is $400,000 to $500,000. 

 About 3,500 families are engaged in this 

 form of aquiculture. Small quantities of 

 the laver are eaten fresh, but most of it 

 is sun-dried before it reaches the con- 

 sumer. The weeds are washed, picked, 

 sorted, and then chopped fine by hand, 

 and the wet, chopped pieces are spread 

 on small bamboo mats and pressed by 

 hand into thin sheets, the mats being 

 placed on inclined frames in the open 

 air. When drying is complete the sheets 

 are stripped from the mats, piled and 

 pressed, and tied in small bundles for 

 market. This product has numerous 

 culinary uses and is found in every 

 Japanese kitchen. 



GETTING SALT FROM THE SEA 



An important industryin some parts of 

 Japan, more particularly in the southern 

 districts, is the extraction of salt from 

 sea water, which I may be allowed to 

 mention in connection with the fisheries. 

 The output of mineral salt in Japan is 

 insignificant, and the people depend al- 

 most entirely on the sea for their supply 

 of this indispensable article. There are 

 many thousand salt fields under cultiva- 

 tion, and over 100,000 people are en- 

 gaged in this occupation. On the shores 

 of the beautiful Inland Sea and on the 

 much indented, picturesque coast of Sat- 



