TIT. Some General Observations on Protection, 
Legislation, etc. 
In 1852 the Norwegian government appointed a committee for the 
investigation of the fisheries in Christianiafjord and Langesundsfjord, in 
which, among others, Professor H. Rasch had a seat. Our own great Danish 
fishery committee of 1873 writes about this gentleman, that he was a 
"discerning Norwegian naturalist, whose life-work it has been to endeavour 
to develop and maintain the natural resources of his native country by 
legislative and administrative regulations”. There can be no doubt that 
Professor Rasch's views have highly influenced those of our own committee, 
much the more so as the latter, to its great regret, was unable to make 
any investigations in open nature and, consequently, must rely exclusively 
on earlier works on the life of the fishes, which were of little value for 
practical purposes. The Danish fishery committee quotes the following 
passage from the report of the said Norwegian committee: ""Whether a 
fishing-apparatus or a fishing-method may be supposedt) to injure the fisheries, 
depends particularly on, whether the vegetation on the bottom of the sea 
and the spawning which takes place here are disturbed by the same, as 
also on, whether a greater number of fish are damaged or destroyed with- 
out becoming of any use to man. By disturbing the vegetation on the 
bottom of the sea, we deprive most species of fishes of their best breeding- 
grounds; further, we deprive the smaller fishes of their hiding-places, where 
they go to escape from their pursuers, and we destroy also a multitude of 
little animals, which serve as food for the fishes, and which live on or 
among the sea-plants.” 
") Italicised by C. G. Joh. Petersen. 
