THE COD 97 



undiscovered to the large numbers of men who make their 



It will be noted that Dr. Hjort first noticed unusually large 



swimmmg m the Norwegian seas in 1913 ; and that the cod- 



^eie correct. Ihis is a somewhat important coincidence for 

 there are sceptics who still disbelieve that the agTiTnt on' the 

 scalers indicate the age of the fish correctly. Whit 1^1 interest 

 he fishermen IS that Dr. Hjort was actually in a pos ion t 

 1913 to say that there would probably be good catches of cod 

 m Norwegian waters four or five vears la,ter '°'* 



Ufil^fcf "° fg"'"™t to show that investigations into the 

 ife-history of the microscopic plants and animals upon wh ch 



o?th'e°coliSf'"'^ ^" ' ^"^' P^^* '' "- -q"-/-to tfi 

 Dr. Hjort on Canadian Cod Fisheries 



mentS,fsHS''f ,!-'"''^ Canada, and the Canadian Govern- 

 ment has just issued his very interesting report on his irivestisTa. 

 tions mto Canadian fisheries. Unfortunately he wa gS 

 a steamer for thirty days only. One of his most interesting 

 discoveries was that there was a particularly rich out -Turn of 



Me'Sjth'eAZ' r Tf' '" ''*'^' >^* ^^ 'here IZ onZ 

 ?ence I ,,t ^ f i ^""^ '^^'.^ spawning in the Gulf of St. Lau- 

 rence, but he found no eggs floating in the sea. The cod were 

 spawning m a temperature of 29 3° P. At first DrHiot 

 thought that all the eggs would be killed by the cold bS he 



wouwSon' Vr'' ? ^'°P-'^-.g-' »'• fo-cl that ihe" gg 

 would develop below freezing-point. He then decided that 

 all the eggs were probably drifted out to sea by the very t"ns 

 current whio^ sets out of the Gulf to the eastward Va" ^ 



TT.fi i Hjort been familiar with the work at Woodshole 



\VfTf ''^Ithey would float for over t;o months-unless 

 the density of the water were insufficient to keep them Tt the 



iT^lZfr r " ^^'"^ '' *''® '°^e^* temperature at which 



healthy fry may be expected ? And would this long drift during 



