NORWEGIAN LOBSTER-FISHERY AND ITS HISTORY. 255 



three weeks being lost, as likewise another motion that the law should 

 not come iu force till January 1, 1850. 



The law, which was adopted in the same shape by both houses of the 

 Storthing, and was sanctioned by the king, came to read as follows : 



"1. It shall be forbidden to catch or offer for sale lobsters during the 

 period from July 15 till the end of September. 



" 2. In accordance with a request from the respective local authorities, 

 this period may be limited in different districts by the king ; but the 

 season of prohibition must in every case embrace the whole month of 

 August." 



3 and 4 are entirely as in the royal proposition. 



"5. From eight days after the beginning of the period during which, 

 in accordance with 1 and 2, it is forbidden to catch lobsters or offer them 

 for sale, till eight days after the end of this period, it shall likewise be 

 forbidden to export lobsters to foreign parts. 



"0. This law shall come into force January 1, 1849." 



By this law, which forbids all fishing during two and a half months, 

 the yield of the fisheries was of course somewhat diminished duriug the 

 first years following its passage, till the protected young could reach the 

 necessary size. Thus fewer were exported in 1S49 and 1850 than during 

 the preceding years, so that, while from 1840 to 1848 about 600,000 were 

 exported, the number had sunk to 408,310 in 1849 and 427,000 iu 1850. 

 This decrease, however, is not merely owing to the circumstance, 

 that the number which were usually caught during the close months 

 remained in the sea, but likewise to the fact that the English joint-stock 

 company which carried on the exportation from the districts of Jarls- 

 berg and Laurvig began to pay a lower price for the lobsters, so that 

 the fishermeu resolved no longer to catch any even during those months 

 when they were permitted to do so. While from this district there 

 were from 1S46 to 181S on an average about 20,000 exported every year, 

 only 7,9G0 were exported in 1849, 1,604 in 1850, and none at all during 

 the following years ; but, in 1855, 14,470 were again exported, chiefly to 

 Copenhagen. Since 1850, the lobster-trade has steadily increased, and 

 the governors, iu their quinquennial reports on the economical condition 

 of their respective districts, state that protection seems to have pro- 

 duced this result. 



In the district of Stavanger, the exports rose, from 1850, when they 

 amounted to 120,653, to 204,S03 in 1854 ; in the South Bergen district, 

 it is also stated that the fisheries have increased. Of the following 

 years, the least productive was 1S58, when the exports from the whole 

 kingdom only amounted to 553,238, on account of unfavorable weather 

 during the whole fishing-season ; but, in 1860, the number had again 

 risen to 1,333,037, and kept tolerably steady during the following years, 

 so that the exports during these years were about the same as during 

 the years 1825-'30, when they were at their highest, only to decrease 

 very rapidly during the following years. In I860, the exports rose to 



