

HERRING AS AN ARTICLE OF TRADE. 185 



pie: not long ago the herring went into Braviken (a bay on the eastern 

 coast of Sweden) as far as the mouth of the Motala River, and nets were 

 placed near Lossingsskar and Botilshast, where considerable quantities 

 of fish were often caught. v The fishermen in the village of Quilliuge 

 then used the same large nets which are still employed by the inhab- 

 itants of Quarse, (both villages on the east coast of Sweden.) But by a 

 reckless use of the net during spawning-time, the whole tribe of herring 

 has been caught; the herring has ceased to appear there, and the fish- 

 ermen draw but empty nets. In many other inlets on the Baltic the 

 herring has entirely disappeared siuce excessive net-fishing has been 

 introduced. 



With this trustworthy experience as a guide, it will be evident to 

 every one how important it is, if the very existence of the fisheries is 

 not to be destroyed, to follow certain rules based on the nature and 

 habits of the fish. 



To enable the fisherman himself to decide, in cases of necessity, what 

 ought to be done for the improvement of the herring-fisheries, (beside 

 those regulations which possibly may be fixed by law,) some further 

 information must be given regarding the herring's nature and mode of 

 living. 



The herring is a gregarious fish, mostly found in large schools, espe- 

 cially at the time when he approaches the coast, which he does regularly 

 at certain seasons of the year, partly for the purpose of spawning and 

 partly to seek food, or to " bathe" in calmer waters before and after 

 spawning. 



During winter the herring is found in the deep sea outside the coast, 

 where he has spawning-places; but even during this period he visits 

 the deeper gulfs, and thus keeps moving as during summer. This is 

 proved by the fact that it can be caught in the Baltic during winter with 

 nets laid under the ice at a depth varying between 5 and 24 fathoms, 

 and even with seines laid in the fjords and bays at different depths. 

 During its migrations to and from the coasts, as well as during its stay 

 in the depths of the open sea, the herring keeps alternately near the 

 surface of the water and at the bottom. These changes, it is thought, 

 are occasioned by the temperature of the water, by the different cur- 

 rents, and by other like circumstances. Our experience in this respect 

 is as yet too limited to deduce safe conclusions as to the depth at which 

 the herring may be found at the different seasons of the year. The best 

 plan for the fishermen, therefore, is to ascertain this by experimenting 

 with nets at various depths. 



The spawning-time of the herring occurs at different seasons in the 

 sea where this kind of fish is found. Even the different species of her- 

 ring, living in the same sea, have differeut spawning-times ; and of the 

 same species some spawn earlier and -some later in the season ; this lat- 

 ter circumstance being probably occasioned by difference of age, by the 

 slower or quicker development of some fish, &c. 



