680 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



as at other seasons. Where tbe season of protection only lasts a month, 

 those lobsters which have been caught when fishing is prohibited are 

 generally kept in large boxes until the season of protection is over, 

 when they are brought into the market. But many of these closely- 

 packed lobsters die in the boxes, and those which are left are so lean 

 and miserable that they are of little or no value, and are necessarily 

 thrown away. 



There is another point which I must briefly mention, viz, the arti- 

 ficial raising of lobsters. I have in another place exijressed my opinion 

 that this is a subject which i)ossibly in the future may prove a very 

 important aid to our lobster-fisheries. The exceedingly simple man- 

 ner in which the artificial raising of lobsters can be carried on seems 

 to encourage people in different places to make experiments in this 

 direction. Mr. Hansen, a merchant of Akrevig, assisted by Mr. Olsen, 

 superintendent of schools at Kobbervig, has already made several ex- 

 periments, which, on the whole, have proved successful. During my 

 journey of last summer I visited the place and examined the hatching 

 apparatus, which had already produced a large number of young lob- 

 sters. Mr. Hansen has determined to make a kind of lobster-park, 

 where the young lobsters, after their metamorphosis is completed, may 

 live and develop. I consider these experiments of great importance, 

 and would like to see Mr. Hansen receive sufficient aid from the gov- 

 ernment to enable him to carry them on on a larger scale and in a prac- 

 tical manner. 



3. — ON DRAG-NET FISHING ON THE COAST FROM NEVLUNGHAVN TO 



TONSBERGFIORD. 



With a view to examine in how far there was any cause for the gov- 

 ernment to take active steps regarding the memorial from the governor 

 of the districts of Jarlsberg and Laurvig asking for authority to limit 

 the use of drag-nets (beam trawls) on the above-mentioned coast, I made 

 a journey (mostly by boat) along that coast, and staid a few days in 

 each of tbe following places: Nevlunghavn, Fredriksvsern, Kjaerringvig, 

 Saiideflord, and Bogen. 



The result of my investigations is briefly as follows : Most of this 

 coast is open toward the sea, with only short bays and inlets. Only in 

 three places fiords run farther up the country, viz, the Laurvigfiord, 

 with its branches, the Vigsfiord, the Sandefiord, and the Mefiord. An 

 investigation of these fiords, in connection with information gathered 

 from fishermen, has convinced me that there are no stationary schools 

 of codfish in any of them, and that, in this respect, they are like the 

 inner portion of the Christiania fiord and part of the Langesuuds fiord. 

 The codfish caught in these fiords come doubtless from outside, and 

 most of them again return to the sea. It is quite probable that young 

 codfish are found on this coast, and I certainly consider the reckless 



