IV -STATISTICAL DATA REGARDING THE SWEDISH 



FISHERIES. 



BY IIjALMAIl WlDEGIiEX. 



[Nordisk Tidskrift for Tiskcri, published at Copenhagen. New series, Part J, November, 1873. Trans- 

 lated by H. Jacobson.] 



Sweden, extending from north to south through more than 12° of 

 latitude, is washed by the sea on about two-thirds of its circumference, 

 which forms, in many places, large inlets. The country itself is trav- 

 ersed by numerous streams, and possesses a very large number of lakes, 

 so that nearly one-tenth of its whole area is covered with water. The 

 natural conditions of the eastern and western coasts, as well as those 

 of the water-courses and lakes of northern and southern Sweden, are 

 different, so that, taken as a whole, the country possesses a very great 

 variety of fish. • 



In such a country the fisheries must of course form a considerable 

 source of income ; and, it is well known, that next to agriculture, forest- 

 culture and mining, the fisheries are the most important source cf reve- 

 nue, giving employment and subsistance to a large portion of the popu- 

 lation. 



The most important fisheries in Sweden are — 



1. The lake- fisheries and the coast-fisheries in the numerous narrow 

 inlets. 



2. The salmon- fisheries in the streams and inlets. 



3. The herring-fisheries in the Baltic and along the coasts. 



4. The fisheries in the Kattegat and the North Sea. 



1. The lake and coast fisheries in the south of Sweden are chiefly pro- 

 ductive of perch, jjffte, bream, and fish of the carp species ; as also the 

 burbot and the eel ; while in the north of Sweden, they yield mainly fish 

 of the genus Coregonus, but also some of those just mentioned. The lake 

 and coast-fisheries are carried on partly as a means of living by the 

 fishermen residing near the lakes and coasts ,• and partly as a means by 

 which those farmers, peasants, mechanics, and soldiers, who either own 

 the right of fishing in certain places, or have temporarily secured it, 

 may earn some little money. Although statistics regarding the Swedish 

 fisheries have been collected for some years, it is not yet fully known 

 how many persons are annually engaged in them ; nor has the value of 

 the implements used, and of the fish caught been ascertained. From 

 what is known in this respect as to some of the provinces, it appears 

 that this branch of the Swedish fisheries is of considerable financial 

 value, in proof of which, we may mention, that in Kerike, one of the 



