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if the elvers were as common as they are with us; for the catching of elvers is 

 a common and favourite sport among the boys, wheu they move about near 

 our rivulets and brooks. Lilljehorg ("Sveriges ocb Norges Fiskar'') is also 

 of opinion that the elvers are not common in the inuer Baltic Sea, though 

 he thinks the few finds provo that the eel breeds in there. From maiiy 

 reasons I cannot at all agree with him in this. 



We are not justified, after this, to expect any exeeedingly great mul- 

 titudes of eels from the Baltic, much the less so as tlie eel, where it is 

 fouud, is eagerly pursued in every way in the densely populated countries 

 where it particularly occurs. All this together is the reason why our fishe- 

 ries in the Sound are not greater than they are, and why the stock of eels 

 in our Belts mainly comes from the Danish waters. If is evident, consequenily, 

 (hat DenmarTc with regard to the eel-fishery is a very rich and vei'y fortunaiely 

 sititated country; — rich, because so many eels are living in our seas, and 

 fortuuately situated, because the sandy shores and shallow waters give us a 

 good opportunity of catching the eels, partly in seines and partly, during tlieir 

 migrations aloug the shores, in traps. It now rests to examine, whether the 

 chart can give us any information with respect to my second object, to learn 

 whetlier the eel-trap fishery is carried on at all the piaces, where we may 

 suppose that it can indeed be profitably carried on. 



The first thing I shall say then, is, that the ways in which the eel-trap 

 fishery is carried on in the different parts, have proved to be so different, 

 both with respect to the construction of the various apparatus, and to the 

 raanner in which they are placed in tlie water, tliat I cannot help thinking 

 the technics of the fishery would be consideraljly advanced by an amalgama- 

 tion of the experiences of the various fishermeu, at manj' piaces where the 

 eel-fishery is certainly carried on alreadj', but where the fishermen are 

 scarcely up to date with respect to modern improvements. I shall not 

 decide whether this may be more easily done by letting the fishermen travel fræn 

 one place in the cmmtry to anotJier, which would meet with great difliculties 

 as they must be at home so to speak at the exact hour to mind their traps, 

 or hy arranging an exhihition on the shore, where then fishing-apparatus of 

 the various constructions were to be exhibited along the shore, in the water, 

 in tlie same way as it is generally done on the shores in tlie various parts 

 of the countrj'. This might very well be arranged outside the fishing- 

 season. The technical development has progressed steadily for a long time, 

 particularly from the south to the north, bul the movement has certainly not 

 3'et reached its termi nation. 



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