122 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



that he was fully justified in predicting that a change of the fisheries 

 was near at hand ; and although in the beginning he met with violent 

 opposition, he saw his predictions verified from year to year. He 

 finally mentioned some other facts. It has been a wide-spread opinion 

 that the herring-fisheries change alternately between the coast of Nor- 

 way and that of Bohusliin, and that the herring moved between these 

 two places, an opinion which was strengthened by the fact that when, 

 about 1808, the schools of herring left Bohusliin, they made their 

 appearance on the coast of Norway. But Nilsson had already shown 

 that the Bohuslen herring is a totally different species from the Nor- 

 wegian, and Boeck has proved conclusively that this difference has 

 existed from time immemorial. He has furthermore proved that these 

 two species also differ in the circumstance that they spawn at differ- 

 ent seasons of the year, the spring-herring spawning in the spring, and 

 the Bohusliiu herring in the autumn. He has also been able to prove 

 by historical researches that, from the very earliest times, both these 

 herring-fisheries have been carried on at the same season, and that 

 only during the last fishing period there was any difference in time. 

 Nor has he found any connection existing between the Norwegian, 

 Dutch, and Danish fisheries. Such a connection may possibly have 

 existed between the Bohusliin fishery and the Dutch-Scotch fisheries, as 

 some data seem to point in that direction. 



If the herring should leave the coast of Norway, it will, in all prob- 

 ability, be obliged to seek the other channel, (" Bende,") which Boeck 

 has marked on his map. At a distance of from ten to fifteen miles from 

 the coast of Norway, large banks are found, that have their roots in the 

 North Sea, where the depth of water varies only between 70 and 50 

 fathoms, a depth which is very favorable to the development of the 

 spawn. Boeck thinks that if the herring disappears from the southern 

 coast of Norway, the fishermen and merchants will suffer in the begin- 

 ning, but not as much as in former times. The cod-fisheries which 

 have recently commenced, and which he always found to come after a 

 period of herring-fishing, would probably replace the herring-fisheries, 

 after people had become accustomed to them, and had supplied them- 

 selves with the necessary implements. Besides, since the intercourse 

 by steamers has become so common, and is even increasing, fishing- 

 places that were formerly considered too remote will be used just as 

 well as those which are near, and herring-fishing will assuredly be 

 carried on at all times on the long coast-line of Norway. The periods 

 during which the herring has disappeared have been neither as long 

 nor as exclusive as is generally supposed ; for although we know that 

 the herring left Skudesnres in 1784, it was caught near Bergen in 1787, 

 and returned there in 1S08, while it did not return to Skudesuses till 

 1808. Nor has it remained entirely away during the intervening period, 

 since in 1803 there might have been considerable fishing, if people had 

 been prepared for it, for during that year the herring approached the 

 shore in vast numbers. 



