SALT-WATER FISHERIES OF NORWAY. 701 



across the great ocean j and some even thought they could discover a 

 direct connectiou between the Newfoundland, Iceland, and Loffoden 

 cod tisheries, according to which theory the same schools of codfish 

 would every. year describe the circle of the ocean. The careful observa- 

 tions of the mode of life and development of the codfish which I made 

 during several journeys to the Loffoden Islands have led me, however, 

 to an entirely diiferent result; and I have already in my first reports to 

 the department advanced the same opinion, which I hold still after hav- 

 ing gained much more experience, viz, that the codfish is not a migra- 

 tory fisli, like the pelagian fish, the herring and the mackerel, but 

 belongs to the coast- waters, especially their outer portion, the so-called 

 sea-banks. 



In my later reports I have endeavored to prove that the so called 

 <'bank fish" differs from the codfish proper only in name, but is really 

 the same fish. This opinion, which, as I was told, for a time met with 

 great opposition among fishermen and other persons interested in the 

 fisheries, has been fully corroborated by the observations made during 

 our expedition. We have now proved conclusively that the nature of 

 the bottom near each of the two most important codfish districts pos- 

 sesses physical conditions which make it peculiarly suited as a place of 

 sojourn for large numbers of codfish and similar fish. J^Iear the 

 Aalesund district we find the "Storegg," known from time immemorial 

 as a good bank-fishing place ; and near the Loffoden district we find a 

 barrier of exactly the same nature. But in the same proportion as the 

 Loffoden fisheries are more important than the Aalesund fisheries, 

 the newly-discovered "Lofot-egg" is of much greater extent than the 

 "Storegg." On this long-stretched barrier, extending along the outer 

 coast of the whole Loffoden group, and as far north as the heights of 

 Tromso, and in the inner coast- waters, there is sufficient room even for 

 such enormous masses of fish as come near the Loffoden Islands in 

 winter. 



The question might finally be asked here, why the codfish and similar 

 fish of prey prefer such places as those mentioned above, and why they 

 do not stay in other parts of our extensive coast-waters ? The answer 

 that in these places the bottom is of a peculiar nature will not suffice 

 here. We must also try to explain why this nature of the bottom has 

 such a remarkable influence on the distribution of the codfish. It is 

 doubtless not a mere whim which makes the codfish select these places, 

 and it is scarcely probable that it should show a preference for a certain 

 kind of bottom and an aversion to another merely on account of its char- 

 acter. There must, therefore, be another cause which must have some 

 connection with peculiarly favorable conditions for obtaining food. It 

 would be of the greatest interest to have this question solved ; and the 

 exact physical and biological investigations made at these points assumed 

 all the more significance, as they were made not merely in the interest 

 of science, but with a practical purpose. The zoological investigation 



