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PEARL FISHERIES
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pearls
carefully avoid giving any information. This is particularly true of
some of the eastern states. Streams in the Northwestern section of New
York State are regularly fished, but without excitement. The large
fisheries of the Mississippi and West are fished principally for the
mother-of-pearl in the shells. As with some of the marine fisheries,
the pearl is regarded as an extra.
The
mussels are taken in various ways. In Canada, boats drag brush and the
branches of trees over the river bottoms, gathering the mussels into
the boat as the twigs become clogged. In the large beds often found in
our Western Rivers, fishing is done wherever possible by dredging.
Metal scoops, hand, shoulder and scissor-rakes are used and the
mollusks, taken in immense quantities are cooked to open them, then
cleaned of the meat which is afterwards examined for pearls. This
method is used where the mussels lie in great masses or on sandy
bottoms. Where there are boulders or large stones, a great number of
hooks are dragged over the beds.
The mussels, partially buried, lie lip-end up
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