62 JOHAN HJORT. M.-N. Kl. 



at depths varying from 66 to lOü fathoms. In 1840, there was clear, 

 calm, frosty weather from the i6th to the 20th February, and great 

 quantities of Herrings lay between Kors Fjord to Sletten, but they 

 wanted driving, and were caught at a depth of 60 fathoms. Only on 

 the 24th, when a change of weather set in, did the Herrings pour 

 abundantly into Espevær.« 



Although these examples, which are but a few out of many, are 

 based upon observations of the air and not of the sea, it is, neverthe- 

 less, an interesting confirmation, as the temperature of the air will, 

 certainly, us a rule, agree with that of the sea. 



Records of the temperature during the Lofoten Fishery are, like- 

 wise, to hand. In Chap. II, we have seen that these have shewn that 

 in the Northern, as well as in the Southern districts, great changes may 

 occur in the temperature of the sea. The variations of temperature on 

 the surface in the North, range between the same limits as in the South, 

 viz., 5 " to o *^ to — I degree, and like in the South, the cold layers, may, 

 too, go down to a depth of at least 150 mètres. We further saw from 

 Chap. II, that in the North, too, the low temperatures of the Winter 

 Period were due to the action on the sea of cold fresh water, in the 

 shape of fresher currents, and I expressed the surmise that these cur- 

 rents were continuations of the Baltic Current, which in the North, might 

 certainly, be presumed to have obtained a greater salineness by mixing 

 with salter layers, but which, were not, however, immaterially fresher 

 than the water of the Northern Ocean, the »Atlantic Ocean Water.« 



During the Lofoten Fishery, it has been the practice for many 

 years to make observations of the influence of temperature on the 

 habits of the Cod. At the instigation of Dr. Franz Møller and Captain 

 Knap, fishermen have investigated the temperature of the sea at the 

 depth in which the take of fish occurred, and it has been found that 

 the catch was best in water of about 5 degrees. In 1889, the cold 

 layers lay along the coast at a depth of about 100 fathoms. If one 

 follows the 100 fathom curve (Chart of Depths IV), one will see that 

 the cold layers, thereby, everywhere along the Lofotens, covered the 

 bottom to a great distance from land (many miles). At the same time 



