18 
one million in the last two years, and the rent to ca. 70,000 Kr. A glance at 
Appendix I shows the gradua) decline from 1873—74 to 1885—86, a decline which 
clearly shows that the old, rich stock had been so severely fished that it had be- 
come noticeable"). This means that the stock of large oysters had become thin- 
ned out, though not to the extent that the Table seems to indicate, as in the 
Handelsbank's conditions (Appendix V) a paragraph (S$ 3) is found which reads: 
»that the banks which are not able to give 1000 oysters full measure daily for a 
boat well provided with 4 dredges under favourable conditions, have to be rested 
during. the whole of that season«. This regulation, which seems to have been 
very strictly enforced, gradually excluded the lessees from fishing over very large 
areas, so that they finally were unable to take the number for which payment 
was obligatory, namely 150,000. The Government then endeavoured to counteract 
this decline by a provisional closing of the oyster fisheries in the Lim Fjord from 
May 1885 to September 1890. This close period was only maintained however for 
the first four of these five years, as appears from App. I. In 1890—91 the 
fisheries were again let out to Tonning and Teilman-Friis for 5 years, and 
later to Toning alone for another 5 years (see App. VI for the conditions). In 
1900—1901 the fishery was let to Brinck, Jørgen E. Mar. Jensen, Halse and G. 
H. Spellerberg (see App. VIN), who still have it. In the years after the close 
period ended in 1890, the fishery never brought in more than about 1 million 
oysters per annum; most in 1905—06, namely 1,200,000. It cannot be said there- 
fore that the close period had good results; since before the closure about a mil- 
lion were taken, and after its withdrawal about a half, though rising now evenly 
to 1,200,000. 
What we learn from the past years regarding the artificial methods 
of increasing the stock of oysters in the Lim Fjord is not much. The 
transplantations of standard oysters in earlier years for the purpose of propagation 
is denied all positive value by the Government Adviser J. Collin, and certainly 
with right. It was Eschricht who proposed this in 1860, and it was also through 
his proposal that the fjord was let out in divisions with sole rights to the lessees 
to undertake the laying down of oyster parks. That the result was so bad and 
gave occasion to a law-suit for compensation was not Eschricht's fault; there is 
a sound principle at the bottom of the division of the fjord into many small sub- 
divisions; on this see later. 
Since 1890 various experiments were made by Tonning, most probably 
under the direction of Collin, at least under his inspection, at Oddesund and 
Nykjøbing on Mors to rear young oysters in closed basins; but these have been 
without result. In my opinion they were wrong in principle. 
In spite of the apparently small results of the close period in the four 
years mentioned above, better fortune has followed the endeavour to maintain the 
stock than to increase it; only no profit has been made. In later years the idea 
has on the whole been more to preserve than to increase, and people were obvi- 
ously very much afraid that the stock might be wholly destroyed. The sorrowful 
fate of the Schleswig banks in the North Sea perhaps contributed to this feeling. 
7) Perhaps also the natural conditions, e. g. the hard frost in 1876—77, contributed to 
the decline. 
