MusEeuM AND Art NOTES 109

The Commercial Shrimps of British Columbia*

By A, A. BERKELEY

“Did not goodwife Keetch, the butcher’s wife, come in then, and call me
gossip Quickly? Coming in to borrow a mess of vinegar: telling us she had
a good dish of prawns; whereby thou didst desire to eat some; whereby I
told thee they were ill for a green wound?”—King Henry IV., Part 2.

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INCE very early days prawns and shrimps have been regarded as delicacies in

all parts of the world. Even in the Roman times they were not unknown, as is

shown by a mosaic in an old Roman pavement. However, the terms “shrimp”
and “prawn’’ are only common names, and, like so many common names, have dif-
ferent applications in different places. Sometimes, as in California, the two words
apply to distinct genera; sometimes, as in British Columbia, to closely related species
between which the main difference, from a fisherman’s point of view, is one of size.
Thus in California Pandalus danae is usually referred to as a “prawn” while in
British Columbia it is called a “shrimp.” Still in general, the world over, the small
forms are named “shrimps” and the bigger ones “prawns,” and this holds good in
British Columbia as elsewhere.

Although shrimp fishing has been carried on in British Columbia since 1899, little
knowledge has been collected by fishermen or scientists about the habits and life
histories of the shrimps themselves. Unlike the Californian shrimps, which nearly all
belong to the genus Crago and are comparatively shallow water forms, the British
Columbian shrimps and prawns are all deep-water forms. In 1899 Richard Rathbun,
in his review of the fisheries of Washington and British Columbia, said: “Shrimps
and prawns of good quality seem to be plentiful, but they are not much fished for, and
little information regarding them could be obtained. The habits of these forms are
such as to place them generally outside the ordinary range of observation.” This
same statement might almost be made today, although an investigation which has been
carried on for the past three years has indeed thrown much light on the life histories
of these interesting forms.

There is no shrimp fishery on the Atlantic Coast of Canada, and even in British
Columbia the fishery is not a large one. Last year (1928) 1202 cwt. of shrimps were
caught, the market value of this catch being $14,280. This fishery is sufficient to
serve the demand for fresh shrimps, and, as yet, none are canned in Canada. On the
other hand, in Alaska, where there is a very thriving shrimp canning industry and
where the same species of shrimps are found, about four times as many shrimps were
caught in 1927, and the market value of the finished product was reckoned at $196,732.
Of course, the difference in value per pound of the British Columbian product and the
Alaskan is due to the fact that in the latter the shrimps are shelled and ready for
eating, while in the former they are merely boiled.

*This work was partly earried out with the aid of a Scholarship from the
National Research Council.