WIDEGREN MANAGEMENT OF THE BALTIC FISHERY. 119 " 



suitable place of sojourn. B v^ery experienced fisherman knows, moreover, 

 to what a degree the placing of fagots and the preparing of artificial 

 spawning-places attracts fish and induces them to spawn in a certain 

 place. 



Rules for carry ing on ihe fisheries, made in accordance with the character 

 of tlie different Mnds of fish above mentioned. — The experience Avhich has 

 been gained regarding the migrations of fish, their extent, and the con- 

 ditions under which they are undertaken, is of the greatest importance 

 to the practical fisherman. 



In the first place it must not be expected that the fisheries will be 

 equally iDroductive every year, unless, especially during the spawning 

 season, fishing is carried on in such a manner as always to leave a certain 

 quantity of fish in the water, so that the propagating i)rocess may go on 

 undisturbedly. It is wrong, therefore, as is sometimes done with us, to 

 use large seines and catch the entire school of fish coming to a certain 

 bay, in the hope that other schools from other jiarts of the Baltic will 

 soon replace it. Such a change from their regular route is entirely at 

 variance with the nature and habits of fish. From w^hat has been said 

 above, it will be seen that in order to count on continued good fisheries, 

 the nature of the water should be kept unchanged as much as possible, 

 and in fact it should in every way be made still more suitable for the 

 various kinds of fish. Care should therefore be taken not to disturb 

 vegetation in those places where fish spawn in spring, and as regards 

 the fish of the salmon family, which spawn in streams during autumn, it 

 wiU be necessary to keep the gravelly bottom, which these fish like, free 

 from mud, shavings, &c. As for keeping the natural conditions undis- 

 turbed, it must be mentioned that by excessive fishing — which unfor- 

 tunately is too often practiced with us — certain smaller kinds of fish, e. g., 

 the bleak and the smelt, are not entirely destroyed, but that larger and 

 finer kinds of fish are thereby deprived of their natural food, and are 

 thus forced to eat their own fry, which of course seriously endangers the 

 future of the fisheries. If a man wishes to improve his fishery, and does 

 not to a certain degree spare the small fish which are of no use for the 

 table, he would make the same mistake as he who stocks water with fine 

 fish without supplying them with the necessary food. It is moreover 

 well known that in sirring the fish generally go on grassy bottoms and 

 in small brooks and streams for the purpose of spawning ; that after this 

 they go in deeper water, and later in summer stay at a certain depth ; 

 that in autumn they again seek sandy or grassy bays, and finally in 

 winter either gather in certain deep basins of the sea or near currents. 

 From this knowledge it follows, that in order to make the fisheries suc- 

 cessful, one should attentively follow the migrations of the different 

 kinds of fish all the year round, observe the exact time of their wander- 

 ing from one i^lace to the other, and finally examine the nature of the 

 bottom and the depth of the sea in different parts of the fishing-waters, 

 because a person not acquainted with all these conditions cannot know 



