164 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



autumn ;) and this only in those places where they are found in large 

 numbers, and where, being sold fresh, they can command a higher price. 

 Stationary nets, moreover, cannot compete with the other nets used 

 during this period, either in cheapness or in the variety of ways in which 

 they can be used ;- for, with the other nets, mackerel, codfish, salmon, 

 and other fish are caught in addition to herring and small-herring ; and 

 they can also be used during those seasons when herring are not 

 caught. Oft-repeated experiments with stationary nets, which have 

 been made from time to time, e. g., on the coast near Kalfsund, have 

 not been able to extend their use, as they have been too little remuner- 

 ative to warrant the fishermen in using them. It is said that at pres- 

 ent scarcely any herring can be caught on the coast of Bohuslau with 

 stationary nets having meshes of the size proposed by Professor Nil- 

 son, 1 (1£ of an inch,) because the herring on that coast reach only in 

 exceptional cases, a size which prevents them from slipping through the 

 meshes. As regards the oft-repeated assertion that, by introducing sta- 

 tionary nets, the herring-fisheries are improved, it must be said that this 

 kind of net is supposed to have a much more injurious influence on the 

 herring-fisheries on a comparatively shallow coast like that of Bohus- 

 lau than the large herring-nets, a fact which has also been directly ac- 

 knowledged by several persons who recommended the exclusive use of 

 the stationary nets. 



Ever since Bohusliin became a province of Sweden, it has been re- 

 peatedly said that the inhabitants of that province ought, like the 

 Dutch and the Scotch, to carry on their herring-fisheries in the open 

 sea with floating nets ; and several attempts, even with very favorable 

 privileges or contributions from the king, have been made in this direc- 

 . tion, without, however, having led to any satisfactory result. The best 

 managed attempts of this kind were, doubtless, those which were made 

 with boats and nets brought from Holland. Less fortunate, and showing 

 want of knowledge of the subject in hand, is a proposition made in 

 1774 in the journal " Hvad XyaW (What News) to catch herring with Ble- 

 king (another province in the south of Sweden) nets, three or four miles 

 out in the open sea. 2 Rev. Elcstrom, who is so well versed in everything 

 pertaining to fisheries, has recently, in his excellent book and in a very 

 practical manner, made propositions in this direction, pointing out the 

 best way for carrying on the open sea fisheries, 3 which could be done 

 without any great outlay. 



For carrying on fishing with floating nets off the coast of Bohuslau, 

 boats and nets of the same kind as those used in Scotland would, doubt- 

 less, be required. It has been found in that country that the better 

 covered and more seaworthy the boats are, the greater protection they 

 offer to the fishermen, and all the safer and more productive will be the 



Reports on the Herring-Fisheries, pp. 81, 8 



2 Act Concerning Blubber-Refineries, p. 139. 



3 Practical Essay, pp. 16, 93, 98, 99. 



