BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 271 



the yield very rapidly decreased to 1,200 hectoliters [3,390 bushels] in 

 1874, kept ou fluctuating", with a slight tendency toward an increase, 

 and linally rose from 32,000 liectoliters [1)0,500 bushels] in 18S3 to 201,000 

 hectoliters [738,030 bushels], valued at 1,500,000 crowns [$402,000], in 

 1884. 



At present the fat or summer herring fisheries are much more impor- 

 tant than the spring-herring fisheries. The summer herring- fisheries 

 furnish 20 per cent of the yield of the entire Norwegian fisheries. The 

 summer herring is not a spawning fish, but probably a herring which 

 has fattened again after spawning. It appears in the sea from Cape 

 Stat to the island of Soroe, principally in the district of Northland^ 

 south of the Lofodens, and near these islands. In this region it fills 

 the fiords and bays during the summer and autumn months. By fiir 

 the greater j)orticn are caught in stationary nets. From 1879 to 1884 

 there were annually engaged in these fisheries an average of 29,187 

 fishermen, with 5,377 drift-net boats, and 1,077 stationary net associa- 

 tions. The annual average yield was 568,000 hectoliters [1,607,440 

 bushels], valued at 4,233,000 crowns [$1,134,444]. The fluctuations of 

 the yields are not near so great as in the spring herring fisheries. 



Still more mysterious than the spring herring is the so-called great 

 or north herring. Prior to 1863 it was entirely unknown ; but in that 

 year it appeared, a very large mature herring, in considerable numbers 

 on the coasts of Northland and South Finmark, from November till the 

 beginning- of January, and disappeared in 1874 without leaving a trace. 

 These fisheries were mostly carried on with stationary nets, and their 

 annual yield from 1863 to 1874 varied between 69,000 and 1,050,000 

 hectoliters [195,270 to 2,988,480 bushels]. 



The small herring or sprat fisheries furnish the well-known Christiania 

 anchovies and other small herring, and are princii)ally carried on in the 

 North Sea, from Cape Lindesnaes to Cape Stat; they furnished from 

 1879 to 1884 an annual average of 150,000 hectoliters [441,480 bushels], 

 valued at 338,000 crowns [$90,584]. 



The Norwegian mackerel fisheries are confined to the coast from the 

 boundary of Sweden to Cape Stat, therefore to the Skager Hack and 

 the North Sea. Since 1858 fresh mackerel on ice have been exported, 

 especially to England, and since that time these valuable fisheries have 

 increased considerably. The mackerel come to the coast in May and 

 stay till autumn. The fisheries are carried on i^artly with floating lines, 

 partly with drift-nets and stationary nets, but jirincipally (and increas- 

 ingly so) with large covered boats and drift-nets. Each net is 20 to 30 

 fathoms broad and 80 to 120 meshes deep (breadth of meshes from 38 

 to 40 millimeters [about 1} inches] ), and 40 nets form a set. They are 

 cast in the evening and taken up in the morning. During the period 

 from 1879 to 1884 there were on an average engaged in these fisheries 

 per annum 3,707 fishermen, with 974 boats with drift-nets. The aver- 

 age annual yield was 5,580,000 mackerel, valued at 720,000 crowns 

 [8192,960]. 



