BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 167 



the upper fi.sbiiig' places, because every man was needed iu the bay bar- 

 vest. 



is'ear Hvitavellir there are considerable salmon fisheries, which are 

 carried on in a rational manner by the owner, Mr. Fjeldsted, who, more 

 than most of the Icelanders who possess salmon fisheries, has given 

 some attention to the matter. According to his idea, the salmon enter 

 the mouth of the Hvita as early as April. In 1884 the small salmon 

 <.'ame first, while generally the larger ones are the first; last year the 

 large salmon did not enter the river till July, while generally they 

 come in May. Mr. Fjeldsted catches the largest salmon in the Grimsa, 

 weighing on an average 30 pounds apiece. Mr. Fjeldsted has seen sal- 

 mon near his farm as early as August and September. On September 

 6, 1882, be found salmon eggs in the Hvita, and September 9 he found 

 salmon eggs in the stomach of a silungur, which, therefore, must have 

 €aten of eggs which bad been freshly laid. In 1878 he found eggs in the 

 spawning places on the 20tb and 29tb of August. During severe win- 

 ters Mr. Fjeldsted has seen masses of salmon egg^, frozen together, car- 

 ried away by the current underneath the ice. According to his idea, 

 the young salmon bad already left the river and gone to the sea, so that 

 I would have no chance to see any; and true enough, in spite of all my 

 efibrts, I could not discover any. Mr. Fjeldsted has given me some 

 general idea of bis fisheries during the last seven years, and termed 

 them, iu 1878, tolerably good; 1879, poor; 1880, poor ; 1881, very poor; 

 1882, very poor; 1883, good ; and 1884, very good (900 fish). 



Farther up the Hvita and in the Tvera they use besides seines also 

 small nets, which are set from the shore or from a little stone dam, and 

 which are kept extended by the current. The fish going along the banks 

 stick fast in the meshes. Most of the fish, however, which are caught 

 in these small nets are trout. These nets are probably the model for the 

 so-called Irogncet, which near Hvitavellir is used for catching salmon. 

 This net has two arms, the longer measuring 6 fathoms iu length, and 

 the shorter 2J to 3 fathoms. The width of the nifsbes is 2^ inches, and 

 the net is 58 meshes deep. Such a net complete costs from 35 to 40 

 crowns [about -SlOj. For a weight a stone is used. This net is not set 

 directly from the shore, but from a stone dam extending from the shore 

 some distance into the stream. It has two openings for the current to 

 pass through, and across these openings nets are extended to catch any 

 fish which might possibly escape by that way. The two arms of the 

 net form a sharp angle. When the fish push against the net they press 

 it into this angle and are retained there. The fish are taken out of the 

 water from a boat, the net being lifted up after the arms have been 

 drawn iu. 



I heard many complaints of the seals at Hvitavellir. The large gulls 

 also injure the salmon fisheries, as they strike the salmon in the neck 

 when they are in shallow water. Both gulls and eagles render the sal- 



