9G9 



bod)- sweeps along, and in the press swim Herrings 

 small (so-called lotftiiUar), middle-sized, and lai-ge — 

 shotten Heri'iiigs, spawning Herrings, and Herrings not 

 yet in l)reeding condition. 



Tiic Herring is, no doidjt, iniijelled, like other mig- 

 ratory tishes, li\- a well-known instinct, to retrace its 

 way to the waters which first alt'orded it a home; and 

 when the s])awning Herring has fonnd a locality where 

 the circnnistances are congenial to rcpi'odnction, it re- 

 turns tiiere, as a rule, during tiie following years, so 

 long as these circumstances continue. On the coast of 

 Bohusliin it has l)een observed, both in former times" 

 and recent ^■ears, tliat during the commencement of a 

 so-called Herring-fishery period tlie fish as a rule come 

 earlier \ear 1)\' ^•ear, l)ut afterwards later and later, 

 until, tired of the place, they neither return in such 

 numbers, nor approach so near to the coast. They have 

 found more fa\(>urable circumstances in anotlier locality 

 or farther out to sea — a more trantiuil spawning-place, 

 ii more plentiful supply of food, and greater security 

 both for tiuinselves and their offspring. The Scotch 

 fishermen too have learnt that ti\ej may sometimes shoot 

 their drift-nets for Herring quite close in shore, but in 

 other years must sail far out into the North Sea through- 

 out the fishing-season. These variations, which have 

 been called Herring-fishery periods, cannot be determined 

 beforehand. Our iiistorical knowledge thereof, defective 

 as it is, l:)_y no means i>oints to definite periods in fixed 

 succession. That they may depend on meteorological 

 and hydi'ograi)hic, not to say cosmic, alterations, we 

 cannot positive! v deny; but the periodicity of these al- 

 terations is as yet unknown'. Century after centiUT, 

 ever since the idexenth, we have at least indications that 

 tlie Herring has "come in" on the coast of Bohuslan. 

 From the end of the twelfth century, at least down to 

 1537, the Herring-fishery of the Sound, witli Skanoraiid 

 Falsterbo as its headquarters, was far famed; but Lund- 

 i!i;uii has shown'' that this was probablj- due, less to the 

 greater abundance of the fish then, as compared with 

 the present time, tlian to the commercial relations then 

 obtaining, to tlie part taken in the fishery by the 

 powerful Hanse Towns, and to the business-like manner 

 in which thej' turned its resoui'ces to account. The 



Baltic Herring (Stromming) never appears in such vast 

 numbers, and in this respect, as well as in its moderate 

 size, more closely resembles the Shore Herring of Bo- 

 husliin. But Herring-fishery periods of abundance and 

 scarcity occur in the l>aitic too, as Sunoevall has 

 shown of tiie island-belt of Stockholm''. He adduces 

 the instances tiiat the seine-fi.shery for Stromming was 



at Nyiiiis Arsta Forsvik 



successful . . . n|. to 1825 incl., . . . 1828, . . . 1834, 



uiisucicssful . . . 182t;— 1839, 1829—1841, 1835—1843. 



successful .... 1840—1849, 1842—1851, 1844 — 1851, 



unsuccessful . . . 1850 ct sc(|.i., 1852 ... , 1852 ... . 



"so that each new jieriod of plenty or scarcity sets in 

 some years later, tiie fai'tiier tiie locality is situated 

 within tlie island-belt." 



Iu\STROM gives tile following description of the Baltic 

 Herring's life in the island-belt of MSrkO: "In spring, 

 as soon as the ice has broken up, and cleared away in 

 some degree, the Stn'Jmming ascends from tlie depths 

 where it has wintered. . It rises so near the surface as 

 to be carried along liy any storm or gale. When it has 

 come so near the coast that it does not wish to advance 

 an-^' further, a halt is made, the whole shoal turning 

 round with military precision, and facing the wind. 

 Thus it remains, almost motionless, until the wind 

 changes and blows from the coast. It now turns again 

 and faces the wind and the sliore, but draws nearer the 

 land to seek suitable stations. If it has drifted to a 

 strange coast, it roves along the shore until it comes to 

 places that seem convenient for the spawning and as a 

 home during the summer. It now stays in their neigh- 

 bourhood, roving about, now farther from land, now 

 closer in shore, according to the direction of the wind, 

 for on its wanderings from place to jjlace it invariabh' 

 swims against the wind or current, e.xcept, as mentioned 

 above, when it drifts in spring to the coast. This mig- 

 ration, which depends on tlie direction of the wind and 

 the set of the current when the fish ascends from the 

 depths, renders the fishery more or less productive on 

 different coasts .... Among these islands at any rate, 

 such has always been the case. The experience of many 

 years has taught the fisiierinan that, if the ice breaks 

 up during a south-^vesterly gale, Avhich is usually of 

 long duration at this time of year, and which sets into 



" Sec Fagr^us, Trancp-umsaclen (1784), p. 129. 



*• "Bruckner assumes a periodic variation in the lieal radiated by tlie sun, anil tlius explains the variations of temperature, of atuio- 

 spheric pressure, and of the rainfall. Tlie tliirty-five years' ]>criod lias nothing to do with the number of sunspots." Kbemser, Meteorolo- 

 eisclie Zeilschrift OVien), 1891, p. 228. 



' Del stora siUfisket i Skdne under medeltiden och nijare lidens borjan, Antiqv. Tidskr. f. Sverige, Del. 11, No. 2. 



'' Stockholnis Lans Kongl. HushaUningssallskaps Handlingar, 6:te Haftet (1855), p. 187. 



