BULLETIN OF THE UNTTFD STATES FISH COMMISSION. 429 



147.— AMERICAN nAMBUT-FISIIERIES NEAR ICELAND. 1 

 By A. THOBSTEINSON. 



Ill a recent article by A. Feddersen it was stated that the Americans 

 had, in 1884, sent some vessels from Gloucester to Iceland to catch 

 halibut, but nothing was said as to their success. It is well-known 

 that the American halibut fishermen first came to the west coast of 

 Greenland in 186G, since whalers had informed them that halibut were 

 found there in great abundance. The first expedition left Gloucester on 

 June 29, 18GG, and returned on October 14 of the same year, with halibut 

 to the value of $5,500. The American fishing vessel reached the fish- 

 ing station a little too late in the season, otherwise the yield would 

 have been greater. This expedition, therefore, did not attract special 

 attention ; nevertheless similar expeditions continued to be made from 

 time to time, until public attention was again called to the matter in 1870, 

 when a vessel was reported to have returned from Greenland with fish 

 to the value of $19,000. The following two or three years 5 or 6 vessels 

 were sent to Greenland every year; and gradually these fisheries de- 

 veloped to such an extent that in 1884 they were carried on by 20 

 vessels. 



The first American vessel that engaged in the Iceland halibut-fisher- 

 eries, off the western fiords, is said to have come there in 1873, but 

 caught few fish, probably owing to the fact that the fishermen were not 

 well acquainted with these waters, aud because they had chosen the 

 wrong season. Later the Americans are said to have fished every now 

 and then on the west coast of Iceland, and seem to have been more 

 fortunate. As Feddersen remarked, the Americans seem to have re- 

 ceived a new impetus from information furnished by English fishermen. 

 As far as I have been able to ascertain, the west coast of Iceland was, 

 in 1884, visited by at least 3 American vessels, possibly by more; and 

 as these fisheries, which are still in their infancy, are but little known, 

 I will endeavor to give a short description of them. 



The matter is of considerable importance, especially because there is 

 every prospect that the halibut fisheries will pay well, and because 

 they have this advantage over the cod fisheries, that they can be car- 

 ried on during the most favorable season of the year and by vessels 

 which cannot be better employed during their long stay near Iceland, 

 as they come here early and leave late in the season. It is unfortunate 

 that the Iceland cod-fisheries, in order to be carried on successfully by 

 large vessels, must, as is done by the French fishermen, be commenced 

 as early as March, when the cod must be sought close to the coast, 



* " Amerikanake Fiskere under Island," from Fiakeritidende, No. 18. Copenhagen, May 

 6, 188f>. Translated from the Danish by Herman Jacobsox. 



