270 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COJIMISSION. 



very inucb, as in 1880 it was upwards of 23,000,000 fish, while in 1883 

 it was only 3,500,000 (the smallest yield during the last 25 years); in 

 1884, however, it had again reached 16,000,000. The fish were in equal 

 parts worked into " klip-fish" and "stock-fish," the latter being almost 

 exclusively "round-fish." 



Besides these cod fisheries within the 10-mile limit, cod fisheries are 

 also carried on farther out, ofi' the coast of Eomsdal, in covered boats. 

 Swedes, occasionally Frenchmen, rnd fishermen from the Fiiroe Islands 

 also engage in these fisheries. On an average 100 boats are every year 

 engaged in these fisheries, and the yield has averaged 1,000,000 fish. 

 Cod fisheries are also carried on during the summer near Spitzbergen 

 by boats from Transoe and Finmark. The yield varies very much, aver- 

 aging from 250,000 to 500,000 per year. 



The Norwegian herring fisheries, comprising about 25 per cent of the 

 total annual yield of the fisheries, and during the period from 18GG to 

 1884 yielding annually fish to the average value of 6,400,000 crowns 

 [$1,715,200], are of four kinds, namely, the spring-herring fisheries, the 

 fat or summer herring fisheries, the great or north herring fisheries, and 

 the small. herring or sprat fisheries. These fisheries are carried on with 

 open boats, partly with floating nets and partly with stationary nets. 

 The boats with floating nets are generally about 30 feet long and 10 

 feet broad, and have as a rule gafls, jibs, and foresails, a crew of 4 or 5 

 men, and from 20 to 60 nets, each 10 to 15 fathoms long and 100 to 120 

 meshes deep, with cork or glass floats at the top and with stone weights 

 at the bottom. According to the depth at which the shoals of herring 

 are found, the nets can be set nearer to or farther from the surface. 

 The fisheries with stationary nets are carried on by associations, each 

 consisting of 13 or 14 men, and owning several boats and nets. When 

 the herring which have entered a fiord want to get out again, the en- 

 trance of the fiord is closed with one or several large stationary nets, 

 and the fish are then caught with seines. It has happened that in small 

 fiords which had been closed in this manner, such enormous masses of 

 herring had been shut up that they could be dipped out with pails or 

 caught with the hand. 



The spring herring is a large full herring which comes from the 

 North Sea in January and February for the purpose of spawning, and 

 in dense shoals, the approach of which may be recognized by a pecul- 

 iar movement of the surface, and by the whales following in their wake 

 and the sea-gulls hovering over them. These herring enter the fiords, 

 especially north and south of Stavanger. In former years this fish 

 formed the principal object of the Norwegian herring fisheries. But from 

 1786 till 1807 they failed to approach the coasts of Norway in any con- 

 siderable quantity ; from 1807 on, however, these fisheries again became 

 productive. During the last twenty years the largest quantity (947,000 

 hectoliters*=2,680,010 bushels) was caught in 1869; from that year on 



* The licctoliter equals about 2.83 Uuited States bushels. 



