250 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



sters are protected, the more will they increase in number; and their 

 decrease since 1830 was almost unanimously ascribed to the summer 

 fisheries, which are going on at a time when the lobsters spawn, although 

 the spawning does not take place at the same time in every place. Such 

 a prohibitory law would therefore be of great importance for the lob- 

 ster-fisheries. It was true that, on the other hand, the trade would be 

 somewhat iuconvenieuced by such a law, the prices would fall, and it 

 would be necessary to modify time when fishing should be prohibited, 

 according to different local circumstances. The reports which came in 

 from the other districts likewise favored the prohibition of fishing 

 during the months of July, August, and September, some even advising 

 an extension of this time from May till October. Another agent of an 

 English lobster-company, however, warned against any interference by 

 law with this trade, particularly on account of the fishermen, who would 

 not be able to earn their living during a great part of the year. The 

 decrease of the fisheries was, in his opinion, chiefly caused by the fact 

 that fewer men were employed in them, the increase of navigation and 

 the rich' herring and mackerel fisheries employing so many men. He 

 supposed, moreover, that a law prohibiting the catching of lobsters during 

 a certain period would not prove beneficial to the lobster-trade, but that 

 an undoubtedly more productive fishery during the months when fish- 

 ing would be allowed would have a very injurious effect on the market. 

 The Bergen Board of Trade were of opinion that such a prohibition, if 

 it did not extend to the months of May, June, and July, would not dis- 

 turb the fisheries in the Bergen district, which are chiefly carried on 

 during these months, but that it would not be advisable to forbid fish- 

 ing during these months. If it was absolutely necessary to pass some 

 law for the preservation of the lobster, they would advise the govern- 

 ment to take up the old proposition not to catch and sell lobsters meas- 

 uring less than 8 inches. The governor of the North Bergen district 

 considered it desirable that the lobsters should be protected from the 

 middle of July till the middle of September. In Romsdal, however, no 

 prohibition was desired from June 15 till September 15, since fishing 

 was going on during this very period. As so many different opinions had 

 come from the different parts of the country, and as it seemed desirable 

 o hear the opinion of several naturalists, Professor Rasch was requested 

 by the government to prepare a law for the preservation of the lobster, 

 giving the full reasons for such a law. In his report to the department, 

 he first of all gave his view regarding the pairing-season, and then 

 regarding the time which elapses between the pairing and the emission 

 of the eggs from the ovary. He found that the pairing-season of the 

 lobster extended over a long period of time, viz, from the time it first 

 sheds its shell in September till April or May, but that the embryo does 

 not develop till the heat of summer sets in, no matter whether the spawn- 

 ing has taken place in autumn, winter, or spring. Most of them have 

 their eggs hatched in July and August, and the young lobsters leave 

 their mother from the middle of August till the middle of September. 



