During the winter of 1946-7 and 1947-8, large numbers of immature herring were observed 

 in Faxa Bay (Kolla Fjord). In the first winter, about 139, 000 centners were caught, in the follow- 

 ing year about 1,800,000 centners. According to the biological analysis made by Fridriksson (6), 

 spring and summer herring were represented in the catches in almost equal proportions. The per- 

 centage ratio of the two types was determined by Fridriksson on the basis of an analysis of the 

 gonad maturity stages and the number of vertebrae (Table 17). 



TABLE 17. CHARACTERISTICS OF HERRING CAUGHT IN FAXA BAY DURING 

 1946-1948 (AFTER FRIDRIKSSON). 



The average number of vertebrae in these two groups of herring varies somewhat. Herring 

 of stage in have on the average about 57 vertebrae (56.96) and V stage herring have 57.21. One 

 can agree with Fridriksson that herring with a small number of vertebrae in stages n and III should 

 be considered summer -spawning herring while those with a large number of vertebrae in stages IV, 

 V should be considered spring- spawning herring. This assumption is confirmed by the following 

 observations on the departure of stage V herring from Kolla Fjord in the middle of February (Table 

 18). 



Spring- spawning herring left Kolla Fjord in the middle of February, after which simimer 

 herring were left in the bay. The general catch of summer herring in KoUa Fjord was about 

 800, 000 centners . 



One should note that these numbers of herring were a great sitrprise for the Icelandic in- 

 vestigators and in particular for Fridriksson (4), who for several years before these observations 

 had asserted that the number of summer herring was small. 



There was a considerable nimiber of sexually immature simimer herring in the catches off 

 the south-western coasts of Iceland. In this region, we found large numbers of young herring in 



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