148 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



prevents the herring from noticing the seine till it is too late. The 

 large herring is not near as bold a fish as the small-herring, and does 

 not make any serious attempts to escape ; while the latter, as soon as 

 the seine is hauled on land, boldly pushes against the meshes trying to 

 get out, resembling somewhat in this respect the pilchard. 1 



The chief food of the herring on the coast of Bohuslan consists of 

 small insects, (" Ganeskar,") which are found, especially during the 

 warm season, 2 in great numbers. 



The herring seems to like those gulfs into which some large river 

 empties ; and the Skagerack spring-herring is consequently found in very 

 great abundance near the mouths of the Gota Eiver and the Glommen, 

 (where it has been caught with stationary nets from time immemorial.) 

 This may arise from the facts that it finds more food there, and be- 

 cause the less salty and more turbid water offers a better protection, 

 especially upon the part of the young fish against enemies. 3 



In former times, the large herring often ascended the river as far as 

 Goteborg, and once it was found near Tingstad, a mile from Nya Elfs- 

 borg.* 



The herring is found at a greater depth in cold than in warm weather; 5 

 and when there is ice, it has sometimes been observed to pass under it. 6 

 Near Kalfsuud, it has been found that there is frequently good herring- 

 fishing immediately after the breaking-up of the ice. 7 This always im- 

 plies a change from land-wind and cool weather to sea- wind and milder 

 weather. 



When the water grows warmer, the young herriug move to the shallow 

 places; but when cold weather sets in, they move to deep water. It 

 has been observed, near Hisingen, that during the summer the young- 

 herring like to come to the mouth of the river when there is an east 

 wind, 8 but otherwise they follow the stream out on the coast. After 

 mild winters, and during particularly mild spring weather, the spring- 

 herring begin to spawn somewhat earlier, and the fisheries consequently 

 begin at an earlier period than otherwise. 9 



At the beginning of the u old" fisheries, when the herring still came 

 near the coast during the warm season, the land-wind was considered 

 most favorable to the fisheries; but since the herring have begun to 



1 Yarrell, British Fishes, 3d ed., I, pp. 143-144. 



2 Ekstrom, Review of the Transactions of the Royal Academy of Sciences for 1346, pp. 

 181-182. 



3 Dubb, Reports of the Royal Academy of Sciences for 1S17, pp. 35, 44. Nilsson, Re- 

 ports on the Herring-Fisheries, pp. 57, 59, 64. 



4 Act concerning Blubber-Refineries, p. 98. — Dubb, Reports of the Royal Academy of 

 Sciences for 1817, p. 35. 



6 J. M. Mitchell, The Herring, its Natural History and National Importance, Edin- 

 burg, 1864, p. 28. 



6 Ccdarstrom, Fish-Culture and the Swedish Fisheries, p. 211. 



7 Reports on Herring-Fisheries, p. 129 fr. 28. 

 8 Nilsson, Reports on the Herring-Fisheries, p. 64. 



9 Ekstrom, Review of the Transactions of the Royal Academy of Sciences for 1844, 

 p. 120. 



