154 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



whenever they came near the coast. 1 In the large fisheries which are 

 carried on in the boundary- waters between Sweden and Norway, and in 

 which the Swedes have taken a part only during the last twenty or 

 thirty years, the small-herring are said to have always predominated, 

 with the exception, perhaps, of the last weeks of* the fishing-season. 



The spring and summer fisheries. — Near Ulkekalet, in the sound between 

 Mjorn and Tjorn, a few small-herring have been taken, which had fully- 

 developed sexual organs. At Orost, in the parish of Torp, small-her- 

 ring have usually been caught during the spring, which likewise had 

 fully-developed roe and milt. 



During these fisheries, the small-herring have often been found mixed 

 with sea-herring, and so-called ** grass-herring," (herring one year old.) 

 During the last great fishing-period, the small-herring seem to have been 

 more numerous during the summer than is now the case. 2 



The small-herring fisheries on the coast of Bohuslan are carried on 

 entirely with nets, as all the other fishing-implements would yield too 

 little result. I know only one fisherman on the coast of Bohuslan who 

 fishes with a purse-net, and only one who fishes with stationary nets. 



More than 5,000 tons of small-herring have been prepared during the 

 fishing-year as anchovies, especially at Stromstad, Fjellbacka, Grafvarue, 

 Lepekie, Uddevalla, Gullholmen, Nosund, Kyrkesund, and Marstrand. 

 The smaller kind are considered the best for making anchovies, because 

 they have a finer flavor and smaller bones. Young small-herring are, in 

 Norway, made into anchovies, and they are particularly well suited for 

 this purpose ; but, as in a fresh condition they cannot stand the long 

 journey to the salting-establishments, they are very seldom used for 

 this purpose by our manufacturers. 



VI. — OF FISHING-IMPLEMENTS, THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY ARE 

 USED, AND OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH. 



Nets properly so called. — Large herring-nets. — These nets, which, at 

 least on the southern coast, are used for catching the herring coming 

 in from the sea, and which are very much like the nets used lor catch- 

 ing herring during the "old" fisheries, are now almost confined exclu- 

 sively to the southern coast, only a few being found on the central and 

 northern coasts. 3 These nets are generally 120 fathoms long and 12 

 fathoms deep. On the southern coast, they have usually 18 inesfies to 

 the yard ; but, on the central and northern coasts, they have 22 meshes. 

 On the southern coast, all the meshes are equally fine ; but, on the north- 



1 Iu the Report on the Salt-Water Fish of Bohuslan for 18G9, von YMen mentions 

 the frequent occurreuce of "fjord herring." See Quarterly Journal of the Goteborg 

 and Bohusliiu Agricultural Society, July, 1870, p. 16., which may he compared with 

 the July number, 1871, p. 52, of the same journal. 



2 Act Concerning Blubber-Refineries, pp. 73, 75. 



3 The nets used in the northern portion of the central and northern coasts corre- 

 spond both in their construction and the manner in which they are used more with tho 

 middle-sized nets used tor fishing for small-herring. 



