-I 
painting the shells with red lead or tar; but these are not sufficiently durable for 
our purpose; it is only recently that I believe I have found a better method. It 
will certainly prove hy this method that the oysters on the different banks grow 
as a rule fairly quickly, until they reach 7—8 cm. in shallow water and 8—9 cm. 
in deeper, but much more slowly after that or not at all. É 
The present standard for oysters consists of a quadrilateral iron 
frame, with an opening of 8 cm. on the one side and 3 cm. on the other. 
All oysters which are able to pass through this frame, whether lengthways 
or broadways, by turning or twisting, must be returned to the water if taken up 
by the fishermen, in order to be allowed to grow larger before being fished up 
again. I have closely investigated how this standard works in practice by using 
it on a number of the oysters fished during these investigations, especially on 
those taken by the pole-dredge and by diving. 
8 cm. 
(1, 
& 
natural size. 
"I G 
- 
As the oysters under 7 cm. must be considered as a rule unfit for the 
market or food, at least as regards the race which occurs in the Lim Fjord at 
present, I have only used the standard on oysters of 7 cm. and upwards. Of 
these (see p. 15 Table Ia) 1612 oysters taken by the pole-dredge on May 2dth and 
July 19%th at Feggeklit, on July 3rd in Faarup Vig, on August 29th in Venø 
Bugt and on låth—17th August at Trehuse have been examined. Of these 1612 
oysters only 178 were standard size, as all at 7 cm, went through the frame of 
8Xx 3 cm., almost all at 8 cm. and ?/,ths of those at 9 cm., even 15 at 10' cm. 
passed through; only the 12 which were 11 cm. in length were all standard size 
(see Table Ia, last two columns). All fishing with the pole-dredge is therefore 
practically impossible at many places in shallow water according to this standard ; 
and even if pole-dredging would pay, yet most of the oysters, namely almost all 
at 8 cm. and Z/,ths of those at 9 cm., would die of old age without being fished; 
since the oysters at 8 cm. and above must as a rule be considered as full-grown 
at these places (Table I, p. 14). 
Even if pole-dredging did pay the fishermen, especially in earlier years, 
with the same standard, this was due on the one hand to the fact that the oysters 
on a few of the banks as already mentioned were of much greater size, and on 
the other that in good weather pole-dredging can be carried on in deeper water 
than we fished. What I wish to emphasize on this ocecasion is the fact, that there 
are large areas on which the oysters when full-grown are so small that they cannot 
