4 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XIV, 



A.— NORWAY. 



11— THE ADMINISTRATION AND ORGANIZATION OF 



FISHERIES IN NORWAY. 



In Norwa3^ the welfare of the fishing industries is looked after 

 l)y the Department of Fisheries, one of the constituent sections of 

 the Ministry of Commerce. 



At its head is a Director responsible to the Minister of Com- 

 merce. 1 he headquarters are situated in Bergen as being more 

 suitable for several weighty reasons than Christiania. Among these 

 the principal are its central situation on the Norwegian coast line, 

 and the fact that having been the centre of the herring trade from 

 time immemorial, its population by association has an absorbing 

 interest in fishery development, such as Christiania with its more 

 varied interests does not possess ; finally the existence there of the 

 Bergen Museum, an institution founded through the munificence of 

 the citizens. This museum, wholly unlike the ordinary conception 

 of a provincial museum, pulses with activity and has long been 

 a great scientific centre, with a strong scientific staff engaged upon 

 pure research ; amongst its activities was the establishment of a 

 Biological Station at Bergen and this has been of the greatest 

 assistance to the Fisheries Department, for, by arrangement, much 

 of the department's oceanographic work has been carried out by 

 the staff of the Biological Station. 



Partly by co-operation with non-governmental institutions and 

 societies such for instance as that just mentioned, the department 

 is able to carry on its operations with a comparatively small tech- 

 nical staff. The most important of these comprise two technical 

 or practical experts, three biological experts, a Superintendent 

 (chemist) of the experimental station with two assistants, and a 

 librarian (who is also a biologist and assists the biological 

 experts). Two lady assistants are provided for statistical and 

 similar work, and there is suitable but limited provision of messen- 

 gers and laboratory attendants. 



The technical experts are men of practical acquaintance 

 with seafaring and fishing. The senior of these is Captain 

 Iverson, master of the Michael Snrs ; to him is given the investigation 

 of practical fishery problems, such as the adjudication of rights in 

 disputes between fishermen, supervision of the enforcement of 

 fishery regulations and the like. The second has charge among 



