710 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The cod, incliuling liver und roe, or just as it is before dressing, 

 may be estimated at 45 centimes (9.72 cents), and the catch of this fish 

 represented in 1877 a value of about 31,500,000 francs* ($6,300,000) on 

 the fishing-grounds. 



The returns from the different localities were as follows : 



In 1873, 49,500,000 cod, worth ^4, 240, 000 



In 1874, 47,500,000 cod, worth 4, 060, 000 



In 1875, 53,000,000 cod, worth 4, 300, 000 



In 1876, 38,000,000 cod, worth - 3, 600, 000 



In 1877, 4,567 boats, manned by 21,287 men, took part in the fisheries 

 of the Lofifoden Islands. The average gain of each fisherman during 

 the season may be valued at $120, or about 96 cents a day. The num- 

 ber of boats employed was — 



In 1876 4,911 



Inl875 3,905 



In 1874 3'^^'' 



In 1873 3' ^^'3 



The principal cause of the increase of the vessels employed since 

 1873 is doubtless the disappearance of the great herring of the North, 

 those employed therein now seeking their living in the Loffoden fish- 

 eries. 



The codfishing of the districts of Nordmore, Eomsdal, and Sondmore 

 is carried on by about 2,500 boats, and that of Finmark by 4,000 boats. 

 The principal fishing-banks of the Loffoden Isles are Henuivgsvaer, 

 Hopen, Svolvaer, Kabelvog, Stamsund, Balstad, Stene, Ure, Vaero, and 



Eost. 



1. Apparatus used in the cod-fisher\. 



The apparatus employe^, is the same in every country, and is essen- 

 tially of four kinds : hand-lines, trawl lines (palancres) or bottom-lines, 

 nets, and seines or bottom-nets ; and the fishermen themselves are 

 classed according to the nature of their implements. Very often, how- 

 ever, a boat is provided with both lines and trawls (palancres) or trawls 

 and nets.t 



* In reducing franca to dollars, the value of the former has been taken at 20 cents; 

 it really is worth only 19.45 cents, which involves an error of a' little more than half of 

 one per cent. — Translator. 



tAccording to Mr. Hermann Baars, Die Fischerei Indusirie Nonvegens, Bergen, 18>3, 

 the cod-fishery is prosecuted at the Loffoden Islands in three different ways : with 

 hand-lines, with trawls, and with nets. 



Hand-lines, as a general thing, are used only by the poorest fishermen, who are 

 without the means to obtain the more expensive trawls and nets. The hand-lines 

 usually yield about fifty fish per day, but sometimes as mauy as one hundred or one 

 hundred and twenty. For hand-lines, fresh or salted bait is made use of. If these are 

 not to be had, then a portion of the cod or its roe is employed. 



A vessel fitted out for trawl-fishing is provided with at least sis gangs, or twenty- 

 four lines, each line carrying one hundred and twenty hooks, which are fastened to 



