HERRING-FISHERIES ON THE COAST OF SWEDEN. 135 



herring,) as " its head was smaller, the rest of the body fatter, and the 

 fish, when salted, of a better flavor." 1 



Begarding the spawning-season of the "old" herring, we know (see 

 "Kandlingarnetill R. St. FisJceri- Deputation dr. 1764 ") 2 that the herring 

 " was full of roe in the beginning of the fishing-season, but empty in 

 November," and that "another herring, full of roe and milt, came late in 

 autumn and spawned later," which chiefly took place then in September 

 and October, though herring were also caught which spawned later in 

 autumn ; a circumstance which reminds one of the spring-herring. 3 In 

 the " TrangrumsacV it is said, as is well known, " on the first arrival of 

 the herring, especially when it comes early to the coast, it is full of roe 

 and milt, while toward the end of the fishing-season it is thin, empty, 

 and has no roe ; " 4 also, " the usual spawning-season of the herring is 

 on its first arrival, when it is always wild," 5 and this, if compared with 

 the accounts of the early history of the herring-fisheries, 6 points to their 

 spawning in autumn, which seems to have continued thus during the 

 remaining portion of the fishing period, whenever the herring which 

 was caught toward the end of the year is mentioned as having done 

 spawning ; 7 and the inconsiderable quantity of fish with roe which were 

 caught must have been got at the beginning of the fishing-season, in 

 November and December. 8 In the " Trangrumsact " it is mentioned 

 that " in January, 1774, three great boat-loads of herring were caught 

 in the Ellosfiord, near Morlanda, which in size and thickness, with milt 

 and roe, exceeded all the herring which had been caught on the coast of 

 Bohus-Lan during the previous autumn ; " 9 but I know of no reliable 

 account that the " old " herring should, toward the end of the fishing- 

 period, have delayed spawning till far in spring, and nothing similar 

 is known from Western Norway, (where the great fishery was very sim- 

 ilar to that of Bohus-Lan,) or from any other place where herring-fish- 

 eries are carried on. 



As regards the place where the " old " herring staid when not an ob- 

 ject of fishery on the coast of Bohus-Lan, opinions are much divided, 

 which is quite natural, as there was very little personal observation to 



1 Handl. ror. Sillf., p. 88 fr. 19, p. 92, p. 123 fr. 30. 



2 Sundevall, C. J., Stockholuis liins Kgl. Hushallnings-Siillskaps Handlingar. VI, Stock- 

 holm, 1855, p. 153. — Cederstrom, G. C, Fishkodling ock Sveriges Fiskerier. Stockholm, 

 18G7, p. 130 och 22G anm. 



3 See chapter II of this report. 

 4 Trangruinsacten, p. 163. 



6 Trangrumsacten, p. 183. 



« Trangrumsacten, pp. 129, 130, 133, 134, 139, 146, 147, 150. 



7 Svensson, Beriittelse om Sillfisket i Bohusliin, Gotheb. 1822, p. 18. — Handl. ror Sillf. 

 p. 140. — Nilsson, Handl. ror Sillf., pp. 41, 42. — Sundevall, Handl. ror Sillf., p. 158. 



8 Even during the last period of the "old" fishery did fishing commence about a 

 month before Christmas, and herrings were often observed long before this, although 

 they could not be taken with nets. (See Handl. ror. Sillf., p. 104 fr. 3, p. 119 fr. 4. — 

 Cederstrom, Fiskodling och Sveriges Fiskerier, pp. 208-214.) 



9 Trangrumsacten, p. 146. 



