BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 231 



29— SWEDEN AT THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL, FISHERY EXPOSI- 

 TION AT EONHON, 1SS3.* 



By AXEL VIEHEEUI EJUIVGMAN, 



[Member of the Swedish Parliament for the districts of Oroust and Tjorn.] 



As a pamphlet has been distributed in the Swedish Parliament, rela- 

 tive to the resolution passed by the lower house February 28, last, to 

 grant only 25,000 crowns ($G,700) for meeting the expenses counected 

 with Sweden's representation at the International Fishery Exposition, 

 to be held during this year in London, and as this pamphlet is princi- 

 pally directed against me, I deem it proper to say a few words in reply. 



The pamphlet, which bears the signature of Prof. F. A. Smitt, begins 

 with a testimony to the enormous importance of fishery expositions for 

 the advancement of the fishing industries; and this is, strange enough, 

 followed by a comparison between the poor condition of the Swedish 

 fisheries and those of foreign countries. This second part of the pam- 

 phlet in question, which is, moreover, accompanied by statistics intended 

 to prove the author's assertion, is, however, utterly at variance with the 

 first part, where the beneficial influence of expositions is spoken of with 

 the highest praise ; for if fishery expositions were really so beneficial to 

 the fishing industries, the Swedish fisheries ought to rank very high, 

 considering that Sweden has taken part in these expositions in the 

 most energetic manner. I shall, further on, show that our too ener- 

 getic participation in the fishery expositione has been one of the prin- 

 cipal causes why the development of our fishing industries has not 

 kept step with that of foreign countries, but has remained far behind 

 them. I therefore take the liberty to repeat here what I said in the 

 lower house, that, if fishery expositions are to prove a real benefit, they 

 should be managed upon an entirely different plan from that followed 

 at our Swedish expositions, and especially at the Berlin Exposition of 

 1880. The prejudices of the Norwegians, in this respect, are very sig- 

 nificant. 



Professor Smitt speaks of the great importance of expositions for 

 fish-culture. With regard to this subject we will quote the following 

 from the writings of a prominent author, who has made fish-culture a 

 specialty.! He says: "Although the culture of salmon, salmonoids 

 and Various kinds of Goregonus has been carried on, on a large scale, 

 in several countries of Europe for thirty years, we have no positive 

 proof from any European country that this culture has, to any consid- 

 erable extent, increased the quantity of fish in the open waters, * * * 



*' Sverigcs deltagande i internationela fiskerivtstallningen i London, 1883. Germale. 

 Stockholm, 1883. Translated from the Swedish by Herman Jacobson. 



t A. J. Malmgren : " Utlatande angaende Ulmpliglieten of artificiel Jiskodlings inforande 

 Finland." Helsingfors, 1883. 



