8 



chance what the sea may do when throwiug up sandbanks; and in the Lim-Fjord 

 it is to be lioped this will never occur again. 



I may only call to mind here, that eA^en more eels pass through the Sound and 

 the Belts, namely, all the eels from the uplauds of the whole Baltic; we must get hold 

 of these also and must not refrain from making experiments even here. The State 

 has brought the matter forward; it is for private persons to help in their own 

 interests. The first experiments would not be expensive. 



In addition to the actual light-experiments, the Station has this year made 

 two other experiments in regard to the capture of eels; the one at Oddesund N. 

 where the experiment was made of setting out traps with guides of the same height 

 as the depth of water, that is, they reached from the surface to the bottom, ca. 

 14 — 15 feet, as it is my conviction as well as that of mauy fishermen that most 

 of the eels go over the guides of the traps; otherwise the succeeding traps could 

 not take so many fish as they do. 



To^judge from this experiment however, there are but few piaces where 

 the guiding net can be used so high when it is fastened both above and below to 

 the poles, and it is only then that it stands up well, as it becomes readily filled 

 with sea-weed and either the poles fall or are broken and the net ruptured. 



In order therefore to catch the eels in the uppermost layers we must have 

 light on the water, — light that does not peuetrate too deep down but shines out 

 very obliquely over the water. 



When these high guides to the net are too long they have a further dis- 

 advantage, namely, that the boats cannot sail over them; even if by depressing 

 the guides at a few piaces sailing over them is made possible, yet the high 

 guides are a great difficulty. 



The second experiment consisted in blockadiug the whole outlet at Kilen 

 with a small- meshed net during the period of migration, so that no silver eels could 

 escape. I did this in order to learn how large were the quantities of eels which 

 migrated from this water in the course of one autumn. 



The silver eels of Kilen are all so small that they could not be taken in 

 the permitted eel-traps; they are therefore lost to the fishery as uow carried on. 

 They are almost all male eels and ca. '/e of the total weight is under 12 inches 

 ^— and eau thus not be sold. 



According to the statement below regarding the catch, 1809 Ibs. were takeu 

 to a value of 562 Kr. 54 Øre. 



The fisherman Thomas Rud looked af ter tiie trap for tiie Station. 



It is in high degree unreasonable , that so many eels should yearly be 

 lost to the people; and this year's catch was perliaps not even up to the average. 

 As science has now at last shown, that no dnmage is done by takiug these small 

 eels, all administrative liindrances to their capture should be removed out of the 

 waj'. Kilen is not the only water in Denmark from which such eels migrate out 

 without being put to use. 



