32 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



export from the ports of the States and the British-American 

 colonies on the Atlantic. 



Norway possesses a long and much-indented coast, 

 which furnishes a large part of the fish consumed in 

 England. The most valuable Norwegian fisheries are in 

 the extreme north, near the Lofoclen Islands, and within 

 the Arctic circle. The great fisheries, and those of most 

 interest to all Englishmen, are the deep-sea fisheries for cod 

 and herrings, which constitute the most important branch 

 of industry practised in Norway. The annual produce of 

 these amounts to a million of money, and they give employ- 

 ment to from 20,000 to 30,000 men, and from 5000 to 6000 

 vessels. The cod are caught in two ways, with nets, in the 

 English fashion, and with lines. The lines, or rather cables, 

 are 1000 fathoms long, and are supported in each case by a 

 buoy, and secured by anchors to prevent their drifting. 

 Each line is furnished with 1200 hooks, at distances of five 

 feet from each other, each hook being on a separate hook- 

 line of about a fathom in length. The lines are set at 

 night and taken up in the morning. The fish are not 

 salted, but are merely gutted and hung up in pairs upon 

 poles, to be dried in the wind, and when thus cured they 

 are exported in large quantities, under the name of round 

 or stock-fish. The great cod fishery ends in April. 



The number of cod caught in 1869 amounted to 

 20,700,000, of which about 12,000,000 were salted and pre- 

 pared as klipfish (baccalau), and about 7,800,000 were 

 hung up to dry as round-fish (stock-fish) ; the remainder, 

 about 900,000, were cured for home consumption. 



The produce of the fishery in 1870 consisted of 

 16,456,000 fish, equal to about 8800 tons when dried. 

 Besides this, there were secured 21,500 barrels of cod oil, 

 and 6000 barrels of cod roe. 



