11G REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



unfavorably, as the practical fishermen entertained different opinions, 

 and thought that scientific investigations were of no use as regards the 

 spring-herring fisheries. Many also thought that care should be taken 

 not to say anything which would alarm people in prosecuting their 

 labors. Boeck, nevertheless, deemed it his duty, first privately, and 

 tbeu publicly, in his work " On Hie Herring and the Herring-Fisheries," to 

 make known the results of his investigations, which he thought were of 

 great importance to the fishermen. If the spring-herring disappeared, 

 and his predictions thus became true, he deserved the thanks of all for 

 having given timely warning of the evil impending ; and if his advice 

 had been heeded, thousands of dollars might have been saved, which 

 otherwise must be lost in a trade that was doomed to disappear. People 

 ought not to rely too confidently on the spring-herring fishery as a con- 

 stant source of income. In examining the history of the fisheries, it 

 would be seen that at times they had been very productive, and then, 

 again, had dwindled down to almost nothing. The fisheries had been 

 abundant during the reigns of Hakon Adelsten and Olaf Trygvason ; 

 also, from 1217 to 1340, during which period the spring-herring fishery 

 was of such importance that the law of Magnus Lagaboter contains sev- 

 eral paragraphs in reference to them ; then again, from 1559 to 1572 ; 

 from 1640 to 1688 ; from 1698 to 1784; and finally our period, from 1807 

 till the present time. It will thus be seen that the herring can disap- 

 pear, and that the fisheries can decrease. But now comes the important 

 question, " What can be the cause of this?" Two classes of causes were 

 assigned. The mass of herring has either decreased by being caught in 

 too profuse a manner, by being devoured by fish of prey, or by being- 

 destroyed in some other manner, or else the schools of herring have wan- 

 dered to other places. Professor Nilsson seemed, in the beginning, favor- 

 able to the causes first named, but later, he has decided against them, 

 chiefly on the ground of better information. Government Inspector 

 Widegren, however, still clings to them. Boeck himself does not believe 

 that the mass of spring-herring has decreased, but thinks that they no 

 longer approach the shore. 



Wherever the herring-fisheries have disappeared the fishermen have 

 been left in great want and the merchants have lost an important 

 source of income. In consequence of the cessation of the fisheries the 

 country has suffered directly and indirectly, and it is therefore not to 

 be wondered at that people in ail classes of society have thought over 

 the matter and have tried to discover the cause of the decay. Many 

 reasons were assigned, but none seemed to be plausible. What was 

 given as the cause of the herring's disappearance in one place was 

 found not to be the cause in another. Laws have thus been based on 

 very vague suppositions, and large sums have been expended for carry- 

 ing on the fishery according to new and hitherto unknown methods ; 

 such as by stationary nets in the deep sea, or by drag-nets, but all in 

 vain. The promises of learned men proved futile, and hope alone kept 



