The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-01-21

coast waters outside the heads are almost
illimitably prolific, there is very little In
ducsment to the fisherman to push his
enterprise beyond a certain point lie has
only a limited market. When San Fran
cisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda have
had their daily average supply Of fish for a
population of 400, COO. only interior towns.
such as Sacramento. Stockton, San Jose and
few others. are available as a market.
! Nevada, no doub', takes a few boxes. bat
the cost Of tran sportation is too great TO
give hope that the fresh fish salesman can
ever 10 much business beyond the Sierra.
Notwithstanding this very limited market
for au available fish industry, which might
be developed to the extent of supplying
millions Of population. only few years ago
five or six hundred Italian. Spanish, Greek
and Austrian fishermen made comfortable
living for themselves and families. They
owned their little lateen-rigged boats and
the nets and other gear, and prOspered so
well on this independent footing that not a
few owned the houses n which they lived.
Compared with their condition in the
mother country, they were prosperous. Ii
the old methods Of fishing had continued
there would still be abundant reward for
the smai-boat fisherman. Bat everything
has been changed by employing steamers in
the fishing industry. Two firms, one of
which employs three steamers and the
other two, are catching by nets tOwed
astern sufficient OF the fIny tribes
TO supply the whole population around the
bay. With three steamers at work outside
the Heads conformity towing nets ten tons
! of fish small and great may De bauIed IN
! board every two hours. Perhaps hail the
! catch Is immature or otherwise worthless
! and is thrown overheard ms waste. 1t is a
most destructive method Of fishing, but that
is inevitable when either the bag or trawl
net is used When the mornings work Is
done a steamer runs into San francisco
with the haul and distribution proceeds the
moment the fish are landed. The two firms
in question have complete control of the
market, and the individual fisherman finds
IL increasingly difficult to earn even the
poorest kind of living. For him ths stu
alton is distressing.
The remedy is to find fresh markets
either by curing fish or by preserving them
| in ice so that they will bear TRANSPORTATION
10 lopS % distances. New Mexico. Arizona.
Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Dakota would
| absorb large supplies, provided the prices
were reasonable. Could the markets be
| extended eastward the catch Of the fisher
men might be quintupled without danger
| of a glut But under present circumstances
i
weather Salmon are cured as well as
| canned, but no attempt is made to smoke or
! salt or partially salt the beTriDg, which is
! the most valuable OF all sea-fOod hSheS.
! Some of the large fish. such as the rockeod.
| might be found suitable for smoking IL
| after such treatment they had the flavor of
| the paddock of the shores OF Scotland or
| the Atlantic coast, the curing would be
! profitable.
It's regrettable that so much food should
| be allowed 10 90 10 waste on this coast No
| attempt has vet been made 10 send fleets OF
! good-sized trawling aud bait-fshing schoOn-
| ers we'll out TO sea where big fish are to be
/ found. II would be useless TO attempt this
| unless assured of n market There are
! doubtless "silver pits on the banks OF TINS
/ coast as there are in the North Sea. Fleets
J of hundreds of vessels drag over the banks
/ of Newfoundland and the North Sea and
| enrich The w0ri's food supply by many
| thousands of tons. Employment is given TO
a vast body of men.
Our opportunity in this direction has APP
parently not yet cone, but the harvest OF
the sea will not always remain untitled.
THE great catches of the steamers are
| driving the individual Latin fishermen out
| of the business entirely.
Il know a dozen families that have not
| paid their house rent for three months now
that's ALL"
| He was a grim, taciturn fellow who
| spoke His face was sWarlhy, but fair 10
| look upon. His hair and musta he we're
| black and curly, his eyes blue. Such COM
| bnatioD, with such face as a background,
! under other circumstances would nave mad e
| him beauX ideal.
He was a fisherman.
Ard his was one OF the families that had
not paid its rent for three months.
And the worst of il is, / don't know
where the next months rent is coming
from"
His name is Antoni Baganiccl. He was
leaning against one OF the piles that rears
its weather-beaten length several feet above
| the surface of Fisherman's wharf and he
was mending net that VIII not stand much
further mendng. He was born in the Gre
| clan Archipelag0. he said. aud he went on
| answering The CALL mans questions with
! an accent in his speech II would te futile to
! attempt to reproduce in cold type
Pm fisherman" he said. 81 am not a
| farmer, am not clerk, am not sailor am
not a mechanic skilled or what you call II;
I am only a fisherman. Ny father was a
| fisherman before me, and his father was the
same before him. The Baganicels have all
| been fishermen.
so / cannot go into the store, on the
| farm, or in the shpp. or even to sea. know
not those prOfessions-and-so-I
| starve.
s'What would you have me do? cannot
90 of and leave my family. l love them
| they love me-Or what you call 1t.
But cannot fish any longer. The big
| boats 10 all the fishing The steamer men
| are making thousands outOf their steamers.
| We cannot make a living.
They have the three boat; yes, they have
the four boat nGw-tbe FarTagui, the u. 5.
! Grant, the Golden Gate. the Gage. They go
out On the coast. up where you call II
brakes Bay, and catch the fish by the ton.
"They bring 10 800 and 400 boxas OF fresh
| fish all the time, every night. They sell so
! cheaD that we are starving.
Yes; / saved up a little money once.
| Fishing was good before the steamers came
| on. But all the money is gone now. ! have
| to pay one dollar each week 10 the HaTboT
Commits oners for the rent Of the place 10
| tie my boat here. pay four bits each week
for the boxes in which / pat the fish. That
| is the law. Then l must buy things to eat
when l am out. 1t all costs the dollar.
| Soon | must have new nets and new tackle
and line for the rockcod aad herring.
but have no money to get them. /
| cannot FISH at all then
care the fish not PLENTIFUL" asked THE
CALL man.
mot now, for we cannot go out of the
bay in the winter. Yet the herring are no I
hard 10 catch. We could catch enough to
live on If the people would buy them.
but the big steamers sell their fish for
| 35 cents and 40 cents each box. That does
not pay us for what we eat. But the big
boats get rich on it. They have but little
expense, and they can catch in a day more.
much more, than all the people want of
fishes. They throw away each day more
FISH than they sell to market, yet they bring
enough.
There IS no place TO sell the fish we
catch, for tile steamer men own all the mar
ksf, or how you call il; they allow no one
| else to sell flsh at all.
Something is going 10 be wrong, / can
see that. We are 1000 fishermen down here.
| We can only fish-Or staTve.
''Soon you will find many of my people
| begging. They must beg, tor the children
must eat. They have all plenty children.