638 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



regarding the spring-herring fisheries, partly to make if possible more 

 direct observations. I chose for this purpose the fishing-station of 

 Hvitingso, lying far out in the sea, an old and well-known spring-her- 

 ring place, where I made the best arrangements I conld for investiga- 

 tions during the time that was still left before my lectures at the 

 university commenced. From here I made excursions in various direc- 

 tions, principally examining the bottom in those places where the her- 

 ring-fisheries are carried on, but also gathering much interesting and 

 valuable information from experienced fishermen. It was of great 

 interest to me to observe the enormous number of young herrings 

 which at this time filled all the sheltered sounds and inlets, and which, 

 on closer examination, proved to be a,lmost exclusively young spring- 

 herring, and, as could be judged with certaintj^ from their size, this 

 year's young ones. The fishermen of these regions know well how to 

 distinguish these young herring from the " brisling " (the si)rat ?), whose 

 size they almost reach, and call them by a special name, viz, "^sja." 

 They were used partly for fishing-bait, partly for bait for eel-traps, and 

 were caught, whenever occasion demanded, with fine nets in the quiet 

 grass-grown inlets. When somewhat later I examined the " brisling " 

 brought to the Stavenger fish -market from various parts, I always found 

 mixed with them a large number of these little spring-herrings. There 

 must this year have been a remarkable abundance of these young her- 

 rings, as the fishermen of Hvitingso also assured me that they could 

 not remember so large a number of young herrings ever since the mem- 

 orable rich spring-herring fisheries. From this circumstnuce we are 

 justified to conclude that a large number of spring-herring must have 

 been near the coast and must have spawned here. The failure of last 

 year's spring-herring fisheries is therefore not caused by any decrease 

 in the number of herrings or by a change in the migrations of the her- 

 ring, but solely by the fact that from some reason or other the great 

 mass of herrings have not come so near the coast as formerly, but have 

 spawned farther out at sea on the outer bottoms. This opinion was 

 confirmed by testimony received from various quarters. All the fisher- 

 men here are agreed that great masses of herrings came near the coast 

 at the usual time, which. could be seen from the extraordinary number 

 of whales and birds, and that for a time everything indicated that there 

 would be large herring-fisheries near Hvitiwgso. But people waited too 

 long, hoping that the herrings would come to the usual fishing-places, 

 and the consequence was that the herrings spawned with the greatest 

 ease and comfort on the outer bottoms, and had actually fiuished spawn- 

 ing when the fishermen attempted to catch them farther out at sea. 



As a further proof of the correctness of these statements, I will men- 

 tion what a very reliable fisherman, the pilot Henni Larsen, has told me. 

 Shortly before the close of the herring-fisheries this man was out line- 

 fishing on the outer bottoms and caught an unusual number of large 

 cod, so that his boat was loaded in a very short time. The most remark- 



