26 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Besides the periodical herring-fisheries mentioned, there may be reck- 

 oned scattered fisheries along the coast of the Bergen and Trondbjem 

 districts, all during the summer and autumn. Summer herring and fat 

 herring are caught here, and they constitute an article of food much 

 sought after. 



Further information regarding the kinds, results, and methods of our 

 fisheries, is contained in a work on the Norwegian fisheries, published 

 iu 1804, by O. X. Loberg, in the official statistics of fisheries ; as, also, 

 in the annual reports of the various superintendents of fisheries. 



These works will show that besides the fisheries referred to, other 

 regular fisheries are carried on during the year, each of which, consid- 

 ered separately, is not as important as those already mentioned; but 

 which, nevertheless, taken as a whole, play no inconsiderable part in 

 the economy of the country. 



Scientific investigations concerning our fisheries have, as far as the her- 

 ring fisheries are concerned, been made by Mr. AxelBoeck. The results of 

 his investigations are published iu a work entitled "On Herring and 

 Herring Fisheries," only the first part of which, however, has been 

 printed. What connection there may be between the decrease of the 

 spring-herring fisheries and the development of the great herring fish- 

 eries, is yet an unsolved problem. 



Similar investigations regarding the haddock fisheries on the Lofloden, 

 have been made by Mr. G. O. Sars, who has published several reports 

 on the investigations which have led to very valuable discoveries as re- 

 gards the development and the manner of living of the haddock. 



There is no uniform law prescribed for our salt-water fisheries, but 

 there is a number of separate laws for the separate fisheries, or for the 

 various districts. 



Attempts, however, have been made to secure some uniformity of 

 principle in these different laws, so that no greater discrepencies exist 

 between them than are necessarily found between different fisheries 

 and different localities. The old laws and regulations undertook to 

 exert an influence on the fisheries as well as on the preparing of the 

 fish, by various restrictions and prohibitions. The new fishing laws, on 

 the contrary, have been limited principally to regulations concerning 

 the maintenance of good order during the fishing season, especially by 

 appointing officers for this purpose; so that the fishermen are allowed, 

 to a great extent, to carry on their fishing operations in any way most 

 acceptable to themselves. 



A sea-police has been organized by the law of May 23, 1857, for the 

 haddock fisheries on the Loflod Islands. This police exercises its func- 

 tions by means of small vessels called -'skates," (skoiter,) manned by 

 five or six men, and generally under the command of a naval officer. 

 As to the details of this organization we refer to a resolution of the gov- 

 ernment sanctioned by the king, October 27, 1S5S, and contained in the 

 official journal (Departement tidende)fov 1858, p. 781, sqq. The expenses 



