NEW CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HERRING-QUESTION, ETC. 203 



some were taken at a depth of 80 fathoms ; but the joy was but short- 

 lived, for it only lasted till the time in the following year when the fish- 

 eries were to commence, when no herring appeared, nor have they 

 appeared since." Similar masses of young herring showed themselves 

 on the coast of Bohuslen (Sweden) in the year when the great-herring 

 fisheries on the coast ceased. 



With regard to the objection raised by Mr. Boeck against the opinion 

 that the summer-herring is only a young spring-herring, viz, that the 

 greater or less success of the spring-herring fishery on the coast of 

 Stavanger is in no wise connected with the summer-herring fisheries on 

 the same coast, great spring-herring fisheries having occurred during 

 those years when the summer-herring fisheries did not amount to any- 

 thing, Mr. Sars says that the difficulty in solving this problem dis- 

 appears if one maintains the difference between "herring-fisheries" and 

 the " occurrence of herring." " The former is, of course, dependent on 

 many accidental circumstances, and may, therefore, although the num- 

 ber of herring is the same, be very different. This must especially be 

 supposed to be the case with the summer-herring fisheries. The summer- 

 herring may certainly be near the coast in very large masses without any 

 great fisheries being carried on. A rich summer-herring fishery depends 

 exclusively on the accidental occurrence of small crustaceans and their 

 entirely accidental accumulation in certain places which are favorable 

 to the fisheries, and to this, of course, no regard is had in the historical 

 report on the fisheries." This explanation of Mr. Sars of the fact that a 

 rich spring-herring fishery is not always followed by a rich summer-her- 

 ring fishery is doubtless correct, but it does argue away the experience 

 that, vice versa, a rich summer-herring fishery is not followed by a good 

 spring-herring fishery. Other causes must be found for this. He cer- 

 tainly answers the objection that on the coast from Christianssund to 

 Nordlaud no proper spring-herring fisheries are carried on, by saying 

 that the spring-herring may be there and spawn out in the deep water, 

 without any actual fishery being carried on; aud, moreover, that there 

 isnothing which tellsus that its offspring, the summer-herring, is entirely 

 stationary in those places where it is hatched, but it is probable that it 

 goes along the coast and gathers iu those places where the small crus- 

 taceans are chiefly found." We think, however, that in this case it is 

 Mr. Sars who does not distinguish between " herring-fisheries" and the 

 "occurrence of herring;" for of what use is it to the fisherman, as Mr. 

 Boeck remarks, that there are herring enough out in the sea, if they 

 won't come in and let themselves be caught iu those places where fishing- 

 can be carried on ? There is certainly, as has been said before, no doubt 

 that the herring stays outside the coast of Norway every winter and 

 spring during the spawming-season ; and whether it remains outside and 

 spawns there, or approaches the coast, the young will at any rate seek 

 shelter near it. There will, therefore, always be enough young herring, 

 (whether they flock together so that they can be caught to advantage ; 



