marred by their sudden disappearance, is well worth 

 studying in connection with this subject. 



It is difficult, but who shall say that it is impossible, to 

 discover, first, the causes of these fluctuations and occa- 

 sional failures of a fishery ; and, second, the localities to 

 which the fish migrate during their disappearance. The 

 list of causes that have been suggested for the occasional 

 local failure of herring fishery, is a formidable one, ranging 

 from " overfishing " to the " burning of sea-weed," from the 

 " building of lighthouses " to the " employment of steamers," 

 and from " making noises on shore " to the " wickedness of 

 the people." Curiously enough, this last reason is very 

 commonly alleged, not only in England and Scotland, but 

 in Holland, and in Sweden and Norway. In the latter 

 country, indeed, the people, some 300 years ago, reproached 

 themselves — or each other, more strictly speaking, perhaps — ■ 

 so bitterly for having been, by their sins, the cause of the 

 disappearance of the herring, that a law was passed for the 

 express purpose of improving the morals of the people, 

 and so inducing the fish to come back. I need hardly say 

 that this law — whatever its effect on the people — had no 

 more effect on the fish than a proclamation calling on them 

 to return at the peril of their lives would have done ; or an 

 advertisement in the Times, setting forth the fact of their 

 " mysterious disappearance," and asking them to return to 

 their anxious friends, when " all would be forgiven." But 

 the herrings did return — when it pleased them — some years 

 afterwards, only to go away and return again at intervals 

 of a few years. 



These intermittent periods of plenty and scarcity — - 

 notably in the case of the Great Bohuslan fishery — have 

 continued ever since, and probably will continue until the 

 end of time ; but, if we cannot prevent the occasional 



