710 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The cod, including liver and roe, or just as it is before dressing, 

 may be estimated at 45 centimes (9.72 cents), and the catch of this fish 

 represented in 1877 a value of about 31,500,000 francs* ($6,300,000) on 

 the fishing-grounds. 



The returns from the different localities were- as follows : 



In 1873, 49,500,000 cod, worth |4, 240, 000 



In 1874, 47,500,000 cod, worth 4, 000, 000 



In 1875, 53,000,000 cod, worth 4, 300, 000 



In 1876, 38,000,000 cod, worth 3,600,000 



In 1877, 4,567 boats, manned by 21,287 men, took part in the fisheries 

 of the Loffoden Islands. The average gaiu of each fisherman during 

 the season may be valued at $120, or about 96 cents a day. The num- 

 ber of boats employed was — 



In 1876 4, 911 



lu 1875 3,905 



In 1874 3,966 



In 1873 , 3,713 



The principal cause of the increase of the vessels employed since 

 1873 is doubtless the disappearance of the great herring of the Forth, 

 those employed therein now seeking their living in the Loffoden fish- 

 eries. 



The codfishing of the districts of Nordmore, Eomsdal, and Sondmore 

 is carried on by about 2,500 boats, and that of Finmark by 4,(100 boats. 

 The principal fishing-banks of the Loffoden Isles are Hennivgsvaer, 

 Hopen, Svolvaer, Kabelvog, Stamsund, Balstad, Stene, Ure, Vaero, and 

 Eost. 



1. Apparatus used in the cod-fishery. 



The apparatus employed is the same in every country, and is essen- 

 tially of four kinds: hand-lines, trawl lines (palancres) or bottom-lines, 

 nets, and seines or bottom-nets ; and the fishermen themselves are 

 classed according to the nature of their implements. Very often, how- 

 ever, a boat is provided with both lines and trawls (palancres) or trawls 

 and nets.f 



* In reduciug francs to dollars, the value of the former has been takea at 20 cents; 

 It really is worth only 19.45 cents, which involves an error of a little more than half of 

 one per cent. — Translator. 



t According to Mr. Hermann Baars, Die Fisclierei Industrie A^oncf/ypHS, Bergen, 1873, 

 the cod-fishery is prosecuted at the Loffoden Islands in three different ways : with 

 hand-lines, with trawls, and with nets. 



Hand-lines, as a general thing, are used only by the poorest fishermen, who are 

 without the means to obtain the more expensive trawls and nets. The hand-lines 

 usually yield about fifty fish per day, but sometimes as many as one hundred or one 

 hundred and twenty. For hand-lines, fresh or salted bait is made use of. If these are 

 not to be had, then a portion of the cod or its roe is employed. 



A vessel fitted out for trawl-fishing is provided with at least six gangs, or twenty- 

 four lines, each line carrying one hundred and twenty hooks, which are fastened to 



