THE COD FISHERIES NEAR THE LOFFODEN ISLANDS. 659 



coming near the coast is owing to the same cause which brings the so- 

 caHed "straal" or "sun-head" herrings just previous to the spring-her- 

 ring fisheries, or the coming in of the so-called "spring-herring moun- 

 tains." I likewise think that I can in a quite natural manner explain 

 why these herrings which are chased toward the coast, as has been 

 described in another place, have of late years appeared in unusually 

 large numbers and have been so mixed. It is my opinion that the chief 

 mass of the spring-herrings, from reasons which have been given before, 

 have of late years lived at an unusually great distance from the spawn- 

 ing-places, so that the great masses of herrings which approached the 

 coast had to pass a considerably larger portion of the sea than is gen- 

 erally the case. The scattered schools of herrings which in accordance 

 with my theory must be supposed to consist chiefly of young fish which 

 are not yet fit to spawn, fish which have not yet been very far out at 

 sea, are now by the irresistible advance of the great masses of herrings 

 toward the coast forced to give way, and are thus compelled to seek the 

 coast, exactly as is the case with the so-called " straal" herring. Kegard- 

 ing this last-mentioned kind of herring A. Boeck has in his work (p. 24) 

 expressed a view which seems highly probable, viz, that "they are pos- 

 sibly stragglers from the spring-herring schools of the preceding year, 

 which having less access to food, have not taken food enough to com- 

 plete the development of their generative organs.'' A. Boeck likewise 

 supposes that in all probability these herrings generally live at a com- 

 paratively short distance from the coast, which would also explain their 

 coming immediately before the coming in of the spring-herrings, while 

 the " mixed herrings" must be supposed to come from a greater distance 

 from the open sea. I therefore think that the so-called " nrixed her- 

 rings" are composed of very difi'erent elements, partly barren herrings 

 ("straw-herrings"), young herrings which have not yet become fit for 

 spawning (these would have been called "summer-herring" earlier in 

 the year), and some stragglers from the great mass of spring-herrings. 

 I have thus, as I think, in a natural manner endeavored to explain 

 some of the most important, and at the same time darkest, points in the 

 spring herring fisheries. Although the theory I have advanced, with 

 the conclusions deduced from it, as well as the explanation of the dif- 

 ferent phenomena, cannot be said to have been so firmly established in 

 all its details that no possible opposition could be raised to it, it is 

 nevertheless, as we have seen, essentially based on actual observations, 

 and can therefore not be termed " mere philosophizing." As I consider 

 it of the greatest importance to throw some light on these dark prob- 

 lems, I have considered it my duty to express my views quite freely, 

 although I certainly wish that they could have been based on a larger 

 number of actual observations. The field which the salt-water fisheries 

 offer for practical and scientific investigations has been so little ex- 

 plored that we cannot expect to deal exclusively with incontrovertible 

 facts. We would not get very far in this way. It is absolutely neces- 



