Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-10-02
ABALONES.
Japanese Divers Get Millions Of Them or
the American Pacific Coast

the American Pacific Coast.
The abalone industry has reached such
commercial value on the California coast
that it has been necessary TO enact law
to protect these homeless mollusks by
limiting the size of the shells collected.
The consumption of abalones as food
by Americans has been rather tentative,
but lately, according to Out West. there
has been an active demand for this arti-
Gle, largely due to the manner of prepar-
ing the fish for market.
1t is sold in cans and advertised as
highly recommended by physicians for
it's strengthening and invigorating quail
ties" The contents of the can are tiny
cubes OF dicelike bits of shellhsh, and
these with the liquid are made into soup,
chowder, fritters salad, etc.
AS an export the fish is dried rather
than canned. Before the abalone fishery
became such an industry strings of dried
abalones were sold in Mexican stores i'll
Los Angeles. They were nearly oblonS
i'll shape, from three to four inches long
and like leather in appearance; they
formed a fine contrast to the long strings
of bright red chilli peppers that hung
beside them. AS the liver, head and
mantle of the abalone are removed, only
the immense foot it has but one) and
The fat, oval shells are too we'll known
to need describing. Their beautiful play
of color make the finer specimens OBJ
jects of admiration as mother of pearl
curios. In the early SOS Of the last cen
fury, when the industry was developed
on this coast, it was the shell alone that
gave it commercial value.
shipped from the lower California coast
In 1889 it was said 800 tons We're
in one year, so tons being handled by
one man in a months time. But the
value Of the abalone fisheries had from
1864 to the latter part of the century
developed from an industry in shells to
one of considerable Importance as a food
export.
The fish commission for 1901 reported
the japanese rs carrying on the aba
lone fishery in Monterey county, having
diving suits, air pumps and latest Access
sories for collecting the mollusks. The
products at the fishery amounted to 10S,-
375 pounds of dried abalone meat and
,293 pounds of shells. San Diego also
had its expectation of abalones, the
dried meat being sent to San Francisco
before it was shipped to China.
The shell and animal part of the aba
lone are of about equal weight when
collected. but after the liver and other
organs are removed from the meat and
it is dried for the market, only about
10 pounds of meat is produced from 100
pounds of shells and meat, a shrinkage
of about 80 per cent.
Another fishery of some Importance on
the northern coast of Mendocino county
collected as many as 2300 abalones a
day. Here also diving suits, galvanized
helmet. etc. are Il part of the collect
ing outfit. The collecting of abalone
fish by using diving armor is an innova-
ton in the United States in the fishery
industry. The diver goes down to a
depth ranging from 20 to Is feet of wa
ter. He uses net-like basket, and this
is hauled up and emDtied by men above
Then the shells are taken to camp.
Big wooden tubs hold the meat, which
is washed. sailed and the following day
parboiled and placed in the sun for a
few hours, smoked for three hours
again boiled and dried, and this process
is repeated, the drying time extending
over weeks. the boiling probably as
many hours. The fish are dried on
traVS.