114 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



XI. 



CONCLUDING EEMAEKS. 



As one will have seen, I have treated only of wliat is especially pecu- 

 liar in the American fishery business. I have only occasionally and quite 

 hastily touched upon what there is in common to the Norwegian and 

 American relations. The task which I set myself was to find out in 

 what direction the development of America's fisheries went, as I believed 

 that therein would be found the cause of the growing superiority of the 

 Americans as fishermen and fish-dealers. If I have succeeded in show- 

 ing this, and that the track in which dcTelopment proceeds there must 

 lead to great profits above the present average, then I may flatter my- 

 self that I have given those most interested in Norway's fisheries some 

 useful hints. That I have not been able to exhaust everything, is e\d- 

 dent ; I have not dared to extend my treatise over the entire field, but 

 was obliged to confine myself to several points so as to be able to give 

 something collected and complete. Since one for so many years fre- 

 quently has heard complaints, for instance, about the management of the 

 herring, the herring-barrel's capacity, the handling and drying of split 

 cod, &c., I consider it useless to repeat or sui^i^ort these current com- 

 plaints in the survey of the state of things in America ; besides, there is 

 doubt whether the Norwegians, just in this respect, had so much to learn 

 from the Americans. 



What Norway needs first and foremost is an enlarged market for its 

 products. So far as the herring are concerned, this may in part be at- 

 tained by using better barrels, which will endure longer transportation 

 without allowing the herring to become dry of jiickle. Beyond this 

 there is indeed nothing new for the management of herring. But for 

 the fishery-products in general more is required ; they must have more 

 varied preparation and not be exclusively salted, pickled, or dried. 



These modes of preparation will no doubt be demanded bj' the most 

 important markets for Norwegian wares ; but it is certain that both 

 fresh and oil-prepared articles may also find profitable markets. And 

 indeed the more variety one employs in the treatment of the raw mate- 

 rial the less will one be liable to suffer from overfishing and overproduc- 

 tion. Wlien we employ new modes of preservation we will find new 

 markets, and when we secure more markets we will make more profit- 

 able sales. 



In discussing the American traffic with fresh fish in ice, their storing 

 of fish in a freezing-apparatus, their imi)ort and export, preserving ar- 

 ticles and treating them with oil, I have sought to point out how the 

 fish-traffic is developing in America, and thereby also indicate in what 

 direction, in my opinion , we also ought to go to work in Norway. In 

 treating of the American hatching-operations and what is therewith as- 

 sociated, I have wished to point out what means they have at hand for 



