158 EGGS AND FEY OF THE HEEEING 



in the Minch, south of Shetland, off the Moray Firth, and off 

 the coasts of Berwickshire and Yorkshire ; he also marks one 

 (apparently) on the Dogger, and another offshore from the 

 Norfolk coast somewhere between the Dogger and Brow^n 

 Eidges. These grounds have apparently been located rather 

 roughly by observing the positions in which ' ripe ' herrings 

 occur. On the Norwegian coast no ' ripe ' herrings are caught 

 except between Stavanger and Eomsdal, i. e. on the Norse 

 coast of the North Sea ; and G. 0. Sars based on this fact his 

 accepted theory that the south-west coast of Norway was the 

 only spawning ground for Norwegian herrings. The depth 

 here is from 40 to 100 fathoms ^ and the temperature, appar- 

 ently, about 42-8° F. at the shallower depths, rising to 44-0° F. 

 at 100 fathoms.2 



It must be admitted, however, that information as to the 

 spawning habits and spawning grounds of those herrings w^hich 

 are really the important part of the catch — the shoals which 

 annually invade our eastern coasts — is extremely meagre. It 

 is natural that the drifter industry — in the person of Mr. J. 

 Bloomfield, of Yarmouth — should have demanded further 

 investigation into these subjects ^ from the 1908 Committee. 

 Dr. Allen told the same Committee that ' the prospect of benefit 

 (from researches into herring life) is rather in the direction of 

 showing the fishermen where and when they can best catch 

 them. I think there is a distinct prospect of being able, at some 

 future time, to tell the fishermen where to shoot their nets and 

 where not, with the prospect of catching fish '. This end he 

 hoped to obtain largely by the study of the effect of temperature 

 and other water conditions on the distribution of the fish. Yet 

 in 1916 Professor Meek* was compelled to admit that no one 

 knew whether our herring-shoals came from the Atlantic Ocean 

 or the Norwegian Sea, or simply moved in from deep w^ater in 

 the North Sea to the shallows ; that no one knew whether the 

 whole North Sea was ' one large spawning area ' with certain 

 regions especially adapted for the reproduction of herrings, or 

 whether there were many spawning grounds each frequented 

 year after year by its own particular school of herrings. There 

 is much room here for further and continuous investigation 

 right through the year, and the herring industry is naturally 

 anxious that it should proceed. Meanwhile it is time to lay 

 stress on the fact that there are two distinct spawning seasons. 

 One main group of herrings spawns in the spring, and another 

 in the autumn. Off the east coast of Scotland the principal 



1 Depths of Ocean, p. 712. ' Depfhs of Ocean, p. 709, Fig. 500. 



» Cd. 4304 (1908), p. 420. " The Migrations of Fish, p. 82. 



