Tunny

or Tuna, a large, handsome oceanic fish. It belongs to the mackerel family, but it reaches a great size, up to. 1,500 pounds. The chief seat of tunny fishing is in Mediterranean waters off the coast from Spain to Sardinia. A tunny net costs several thousand dollars. It is made in the shape of a funnel. The tunny is driven into the narrow end and killed with harpoons. Tunny steaks have a ready sale in the fish markets of large cities. The tunny is related to the tarpon. It is taken off Santa Catalina, California, under the name of tuna. It is known also as the horse-mackerel. The following information concerning the mode of catching the tunny and disposing of the same by Japanese fishers is taken from the report of Consular Agent E. J. King:

The tunny is found everywhere and is caught is pound nets, drift nets, and with lines. A small quantity is preserved and dried, but by far the larger quantity is sold fresh and eaten raw. Of the various fish that are eaten raw in Japan, tunny is by far the most highly prized. The catch for 1906 amounted to 11,266 tons, valued at $722,736.

Some years ago I was present at the capture of a school of tunny on the east coast of Honshu. A huge pound net that, with its various branches, must have had a length of fully five miles, was stretched along the shore at a distance of from a fourth to three-fourths of a mile. At various places lookout perches had been constructed. These were made of long bamboo poles and were raised some thirty feet above the water and on top of each were two fishermen who, with modern marine glasses, swept the surface of the surrounding sea. At various points along the net were eight or ten Japanese fishing boats, each about thirty feet in length, in each of which there were eight men. How long they had thus been waiting for the approach of tunny I was unable to ascertain, but on the morning of my arrival a large school was sighted.

The signal was given from one of the lookout stations, and in an instant all was activity. A number of the boats at once started seaward by a circuitous route, following the signals that were made to them from the lookout perches until they had placed themselves between the school of tunny and the sea. The fishermen seemed perfectly aware of the position of the tunny at all times, though I could see no indications of them. It is probable, however, that the position was signaled from the lookouts. The boats were worked gradually toward the nets, and at times the fishermen beat the water with their oars in order to drive the tunny toward the net. At last there was a great shout, from which I could perceive that the tunny had taken the desired direction into the net, and with a terrific pounding on the gunwales of the boats and the beating of tin cans the fishermen now rapidly sculled up to the net and began to pick up and haul the end, driving the tunny before them.

The fish, being unable to turn either to the right or the left, occasionally came to the surface, breaching high out of the water, and one or two succeeded in getting over the edge of the net and away to sea, but the main body was driven forward until they were in the pound, which was then surrounded by all the boats. Hooks and gaffs were now produced and the tunny, now rushing around in the rapidly contracting inclosure, were hooked and gaffed and hauled into the boats, where an end was soon put to their struggles.

The total catch was 122 tunny, averaging in weight about 1,075 pounds each. They were sold the same day to dealers from Ishinomaki for $4 each, and before night were on their way to Tokyo, and Yokohama. The division of the proceeds was as follows: The net received one-half, each of the boats five shares of the remainder, the headmen each two shares, while the remaining ones received one share each.