VI.-THE ICELAND HERRING-FISHERIES; 



By W. Finn. 



[From " Deutsche Fiseherei-Zeitung," 3d year, No. 54. Stettin, December 21. 1880. J 



Towards the end of last year (1879) a market report received from 

 Gottenburg by the "Deutsche Fiseherei-Zeitung" mentioned the fact 

 that a new article had been introduced into the Gottenburg market, viz, 

 Iceland salt herring, which on account of its superior quality had com- 

 manded a very high price. Some time later the same kind of herrings 

 was mentioned in reports from other places. Quite recently news was 

 received from Elmshorn (Holstein) that a vessel which from that place 

 had gone to Iceland in spring to engage in the herring-fisheries had 

 returned with a full cargo. These communications aroused my interest, 

 and as in the Danish official reports I found but very few data regarding 

 the Iceland herring-fisheries, I applied to Norway for further informa- 

 tion, for, strange to say, neither the Icelanders nor the Danes, but the 

 Norwegians, have begun herring-fisheries on a large scale near Iceland, 

 and they are rapidly developing them to an extent which cannot fail to 

 exercise an important influence on the world's commerce. The informa- 

 tion relating to these fisheries which I received from Norway, and which 

 in the highest degree deserves the attention of our ship-owners and 

 capitalists, is given in the following : 



It is now eleven years since an association called the Iceland Fishing 

 Company was formed in Mandal, Norway. A mere accident furnished 

 the occasion for forming this association. The captain of a Norwegian 

 vessel, who often visited Iceland, had his attention directed to the 

 large schools of herrings in the Sejdis fiord on the east coast of Iceland. 

 He communicated his observations to the owner of the vessel, a Mandal 

 merchant, Mr. Albert Jacobsen. This gentleman, one of the most ener- 

 getic business men of Mandal, resolved to make an attempt to establish 

 regular fisheries on the coast of Iceland, although he hardly looked for 

 favorable results, as neither Icelanders nor Danes had hitherto attempted 

 anything in this direction. Mr. Jacobsen bought a piece of land in a 

 favorable location on the shore of the Sejdis fiord, and sent a vessel to 

 Iceland well furnished with everything required for fishing. This first 



* Die Haringsfischerei lei Island. Translated by Herman Jacobson. 



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