702 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



of the bottom in these places has shown that there is a rich animal life; 

 but the difference in this respect between these and other points of the 

 wide-stretched submarine barrier was not so striking as to furnish a sat- 

 isfactory solution of the problem. There is another circumstance, how- 

 ever, which has much greater weight, and which is fully proved by our 

 investigations, viz, that near such abruptly-rising submarine banks as 

 the "Storegg" and the "Lofot-egg" there exist peculiar physical con- 

 ditions which make it highly probable that the codfish and other fish of 

 prey have a better chance here than in other places to intercept the large 

 herring schools. It is not purely accidental that the two above-mentioned 

 indentations in the submarine barrier, with their abrupt banks, are in 

 close proximity to the two most important herring districts. That there 

 is really sonje close connection between the two I shall endeavor to prove 

 in the following. 



The occurrence and distribution of the herrings in the ocean is, gener- 

 ally speaking — as I have tried to prove on former occasions — undoubt- 

 edly dependent on the occurrence of the " herring-food," and this is 

 again dependent on the currents of the sea. Wherever different cur- 

 rents strike each other the "herring-food" is always piled up in enor- 

 mous masses, and these are the favorite '' feeding-places" of the herrings. 



It is well known to fishermen and sailors that wherever the banks 

 slope abruptly toward the sea, e. </., near the " Storegg," there is a par- 

 ticularly strong current, so that the location of the bank may be deter- 

 mined by this. The different, often entirely contrary, currents which 

 meet here produce a very striking sort of whirlpools on the surface of 

 the water, which in stormy weather become dangerous for vessels. When, 

 some years ago, attracted by the mystery enveloping the " Storegg," I 

 made an adventurous expedition to one of these distant fishing-places, 

 in an old boat manned by four sailors, I had ample opportunity to ob- 

 serve this phenomenon, whose natural explanation is no longer difficult, 

 after the observations made by our expedition. There is in these north- 

 ern seas a constant forward movement, not only of the upper but also 

 of the lower portions of the water, in a northeasterly direction, therefore 

 toward the coast of iSTorway; and this motion is evidently connected 

 with the warm Atlantic current. Wherever the slope toward the deep 

 is gradual, no disturbance will be noticed in this motion ; but when the 

 advancing mass of water strikes an abrupt slope the equilibrium will be 

 considerably disturbed, and this will have both an upward and a down- 

 ward influence. On the surface of the water different currents will be 

 produced, and farther down the reflux of the warmer water will exercise 

 a noticeable depression of the deepest cold strata — a phenomenon which 

 has been witnessed both near the " Storegg" and the " Lofot-egg," where 

 the cold area does not begin till a depth of 400 fathoms is reached. 



But what chiefly interests us here are the disturbances near the sur- 

 face, the different currents. During our first expedition these currents 

 were observed at the same place where I had formerly noticed them, viz, 



