736 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 



poiso {hvidjish), aud the walrus, gives rise to several different indus- 

 tries, but their importance is secondary. 



I.— THE SALMON FISHERY. 



The salmon and trout are also sea-fishes, but they are principally 

 caught at the entrance of rivers at the time when they endeavor to as- 

 cend to spawn. The salmon fishery has a certain importance | it com- 

 mences in April, and lasts until September. The salmon is taken for 

 the most part by nets, and is very much sought after on account of its 

 succulent flesh. It is exported almost exclusively to England, fresh, 

 preserved in ice. The salmon smoked is equally esteemed ; it is con- 

 sumed for the most part in Norway, but a certain quantity is exported 

 to Denmark and Germany. 



The salmon seemed to be on the decrease several years ago ; but iu 

 the last two or three years, since fishing during the spawning period 

 has been prohibited, it has apparently increased in numbers. The price 

 has gone up considerably ; ten years ago a pound of fresh salmon was 

 rarely worth more than 6 or 7 cents, while now it brings from 12 to 14. 



J.— MISCELLANEOUS FISHERIES. 



Oysters are found, too, on the coast of Norway. Although attempts 

 in oyster-culture have been made in the neighborhood of Stavanger, the 

 oyster becomes rarer and rarer, and its importance as an object of export 

 is continually decreasing. 



The fresh-water fisheries, of which the importance iu a general point 

 of view is very secondary, and of which the product is estimated at 

 8240,000 a year, comprise the different genera of Coregonus, pike, perch, 

 bream, eel-pout, &c. 



In addition to the principal and secondary fisheries may be noted hero 

 different species which occur more or less frequently, and are caught for 

 their flesh or liver. These are, first, the Hippoglossus, halibut (Kveite)} 

 then, in the great family of the sharks, the Selache maxima, barking or 

 bone shark {Brygde), the SquaJus acanthias, dog-fish {Pighai), and the 

 Scymnus horealiSj Somnwsus miGrocephalns,* or nurse-shark (Eaalc- 

 jaerring). 



The census of 1865 gives as employed in the fisheries 78,703 individ- 

 uals — about 4.G per cent, of the entire population of Norway. 



* Mr. Hermann Baars in, the Fischerei-iudustrie Norwegens, Christiania, 1873, goes 

 iuto rather more detail than Mr. Friele, in regard to the capture of sharks for their 

 livers. The species which he calls Scymnus lorealis is better known on our own coast 

 as the Ground, Sleeper, or Gurry shark, Somniosus microcepMlus, Bloch, and is found 

 in great abundance along the coast of Western Norway, and especially along certain 

 banks of the Polar Sea. These banks lie at a distance of 1.5 to 20 miles from the land, 

 at a depth of 250 to 300 fathoms. Decked boats are used in their capture, although 

 they seldom exceed fifteen tons burden, with a crew of five or six men. 



The mode of capture is by means of a line, about four-tenths of an inch in diameter. 



