32 



(iegree, influences the average size of the eols tliat are canglit; as niiglit 

 be expeoted, tlie yellow males are numei-onsly re))rcseiitecl in tlie same 

 waters wliere tlie silver malos ure found in great nnmlicrs, and 

 vioe versa. 



In a l'oliowing report 1 sliall return more elosely to tlie eonditions wliicli 

 alTeet the dift'erent sizes ol' tlie eel in onr waters, tlie correet knowledge of 

 wiiicli is of tlie most vital eonsequence to our fishery. ;50 years ago the size 

 of the eel (of the yellow eels as well as of the silver ones) was another in the 

 Issefjord than it is novv, tJie cnnse of whirh, certainly, is fo lip fovnd in the infensc 

 fisJicr/i of Jtilfir years, wJicn so rery few eels cnn reach any ((nisiderahle size as 

 /hey are fislied hefrre this is iif/aived. The yellow eels in the fjord are there- 

 fore, on an average, small now, and the silver eels are ahnost exehisively 

 represented by males. 



The above statements, that the yellow eels become silver and emigrate 

 to the .sea, and that the so-called frog-monthed eels are uot i'or ever sterile but 

 also at last become .'•ilver eels, are of no slight consequence to our eel-fishery 

 in the more inclosed waters, particularly, consequently, in fresli waters; for, 

 pursuaiit to tilis we must sniijiose that all adult eels voluntarily leave these 

 waters in order to go to the sea, and where we have it in our jiower to eatoli 

 all the enligrating eels (for instance in eeltrunks, eelbaskets, etc), the Hshery, 

 consetjuently, ought as a rule to be limited to the catching of these, and 

 fishery with seine or hook ought not to be carried on in the same water, be- 

 cause the expenses become heavier liy doing so, wbile the'protit on the Hshery 

 in the long run cannot be supjiosed to become greater, as also because the 

 eels which are caught in thi.s way are not yet adult, nor are they so fat as 

 tliey will normally become if we waited till they were silver eels. If, at such 

 jilaces, we catch only all the emigrating eels, we get what the water in ques- 

 tion can give, and, exactly, all that is ripe to be caught. The expensive seines 

 which in several of these waters are used for catching yellow eels, ought 

 certainly not to )ie employed; by this we .shall save money for keeping the 

 lishing-apparatus in repair, or for tlie crew 



If, on the other band, we cannot catch all the emigrating eels, but onlj' 

 a greater or smaller number of them, the use of other methods for catching 

 them may be reconnnendable, and in salt water where, T dåre say, only a 

 small number of the emigrating eels are caught, suc-li methods are ijuite 

 indispensahle. 



