732 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



tion of the soutk and west has thiovvu itself with avidity upon its 

 development, especially as it takes place at a period when the land 

 requires few bands for working. The mackerel is taken by the follow- 

 ing methods : 



a. DraiUng or trolling. — A fast sail-boat, of greater or less size, 

 manned by four to six men, proceeds out to sea, sometimes to the dis- 

 tance of ten or twelve miles from the shore, in a good breeze and under 

 an overcast sky. A long line is used with an oval lead at the end, 

 weighing a couple of pounds, and provided with two hooks fixed at dif- 

 ferent heights. "When the school of mackerel shows itself (it usually 

 keeps at the surface), 6 or 8 lines, or even more, are placed in the water, 

 which drag behind the boat, this going with full sails. The lines are 

 baited with pieces of red cloth or with portions of the lips of the mack- 

 erel. The mackerel being very voracious, bites excellently, and the 

 IDroduct is often considerable. A boat thus equipped can in one day 

 capture 2,500 to 3,500 mackerel. 



1). Fishing icith drift gill-nets.— This is the most reasonable and advan- 

 tageous method, but it requires some capital. The method of procedure 

 is the same as for the herring, but it is necessary to proceed far from 

 the shore, and the size of the meshes must be suitably modified. A 

 mackerel net is 36 fathoms long and 80 meshes deep, with meshes of 

 1.60 inches; it is made of very fine thread (hemp, flax, or cotton). A 

 complete set consists of 25 to 50, generally, however, 40 nets, forming 

 about 1,300 or 1,400 fathoms by a depth of lOi feet. This line of nets is 

 maintained in a vertical position by a series of cork -floats on top and- 

 a lot of little stones at the bottom, and by the assistance of a boat the 

 line is kept stretched out. The mackerel is easily taken, especially 

 at night and under a cloudy sky. The average catch per boat is from 

 600 to 700 a night, perhaps 20,000 in a whole season ; but there are 

 cases when one bont can take by itself double this quantity. The boats 

 vary in size; at the north of Cape Liudesnaes they are the same as are 

 used for the spring herring and have a crew of three or four men ; to 

 the east of the cape the boats are larger, but have only two or three 

 men, and only half as many nets, these being much more likely to be 

 entangled and mixed by the numerous sail which frequent the coasts of 

 the Skager Eack. 



It may be safely said that 3,000 boats are employed in this fishery. 

 The vessels leave the coast in the evening, visit the nets during the 

 night, and return in the morning. The best season is from the end of 

 May to the end of June. It may be easily imagined that the product 

 is very considerable, for, from each port and cove in the two dioceses 

 of Christiania and Christiansund mackerel fishermen set out, and they 

 are stimulated still more by the high prices due to the English. 



Drift-net fishing is prosecuted especially in the vicinity of Cape 

 Liudesnaes; many boats manned in each of the ports of the country 

 pursue the mackerel without losing a night until the middle of July. 



