16G REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AXD FISHERIES. 



Accurate anatomical observations on the development of the sexual 

 organs, and their condition at different ages and periods, require, in 

 order to satisfy the claims of scientific accuracy, uninterrupted opportu- 

 nity, a constant supply of fresh material, and all the necessary scientific 

 apparatus. Well- arranged aquaria would also be of the greatest value 

 for some of these investigations. 



While occupied with the observations which I had been commissioned 

 to make, I soon became satisfied that, in order to obtain an entirely 

 satisfactory and decisive result, it would be necessary to establish 

 a complete station for scientific observations of the ocean in some 

 convenient place on the coast ; which station ought to be furnished 

 with the required meteorological, hydrographical, botanical, and zoolog- 

 ical working force, and with a full set of scientific apparatus. That 

 such a station would, moreover, contribute much new and valuable infor- 

 mation to this branch of natural science, and would also become really 

 indispensable in this respect, is just as evident as that its observations 

 would and ought to extend far beyond the range of the present investi- 

 gations. 



As the so-called " great old " fishing-period has, during the whole dis- 

 cussion regarding the best method of carrying on the fisheries inBohus- 

 liin, been presented as an interesting and instructive example, and as 

 being intimately connected with the present fisheries, a complete and 

 accurate history of this period would be of great importance, and this 

 the more so as the facts we possess concerning it are too few, and have 

 been collected mostly from sources dating after the end of this period. 

 Even those works and public reports from 1809 to 1855 which treat of 

 the present Bohuslan herring-fisheries and other subjects connected 

 with them, ought to be searched much more carefully than has yet been 

 done, in order to furnish a complete epitome of their contents. 1 



In order to observe satisfactorily the migrations, mode of life, and 

 place of sojourn of the herring during the fishing-season, as well as 

 their course in the water under different temperatures, &c, experiments 

 with floating and stationary nets, having different-sized meshes, should be 

 made at all seasons of the year, both near the coast and in the open sea ; 

 for the use of one sort of nets furnishes data unlike those yielded by 

 the use of another kind. 



It is furthermore necessary that continued experiments with floating 

 nets should be made for a considerable time, in a seaworthy boat fur- 

 nished with all the required implements, so as definitely to answer the 

 question whether the " old " herring have altogether left the coast of 

 Bohuslan, (as is maintained by many,) or whether they continue to 

 spawn on the outer coast, which would, of course, make fishing in the 

 open sea a remunerative occupation. 



1 Professor Nilsson has drawn attention to the fragmentary condition in which these 

 reports have been published, (Scandinav. Fauna, IV, p. 501, note 1,) and there is no 

 doubt that a new aud complete edition of these reports would be of the greatest im- 

 portance to all who wish to study this subject. 



