206 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Thus one opinion followed the other, and finally it was maintained 

 in a somewhat dictatorial manner that in all these causes which had 

 been assigned for the cessation of the fisheries there was at any rate 

 some particle of truth. 



53. In other places, likewise, where the herring-fisheries had ceased 

 or had decreased, the question as to the causes of this phenomenon had 

 become the subject of discussion, and various explanations were at- 

 tempted, all of which were also api)lied to Bohuslan. None of these 

 explanations, however, gained general favor ; they were, nevertheless, 

 subjected to a thorough criticism by MacCulloch, Kroyer, Loberg, Axel 

 Boeclc, and others. In spite of this they continued in one shape or the 

 other to be believed and contradicted, and even in our own times at- 

 tempts have been made to solve the problem by following some of these 

 old-fashioned ideas. There are, besides, quite a number of modern ex- 

 X^lanations or suppositions which explain the phenomenon by purely 

 natural causes, whose value cannot yet be determined, because these 

 natural causes are not fully understood. Explanations have, however, 

 been attempted, not only by such more or less probable causes, but 

 even by myths or entirely accidental circumstances. The desire to find 

 the causes of all natural phenomena is deeply implanted in human na- 

 ture, and wlien science or ingenuity is unable to find these causes 

 people will resort to accidents and myths. Only those persons, however, 

 who are of a strictly critical and thoughtful nature, and who, conse- 

 quently, both appreciate the difficulties and are but too well acquainted 

 with the defects and the limits of human knowledge, will feel inclined, 

 at times at least, to give up all hope that the question will ever be satis- 

 factorily answered. 



54. In examining, however, all the causes which have been assigned 

 for the cessation of the fisheries, we find that they may be arranged 

 under three heads. The first of these embraces mythical or accidental 

 causes ; the second, causes produced by human agencies ; and the thirdj 

 biological and physical causes. 



A. — Mythical and accidental causes : 



1. God's wrath on account of the abuse of his gifts, human godless- 

 ness and ingratitude, Sunday fishing, refusing to pay tithes to the 

 clergy, &c., or dissatisfaction with the laws and regulations made 

 by the government, &c. ; 



2. Magic 5 



3. Spilling of blood ; 



4. Cruelty shown towards the herring ; 



5. Using herrings as manure ; 



G. Occurrences which accidentally took place at the same time when 

 the herrings disappeared, such as conflagrations on the coast, the 

 erecting of new light-houses, &c. ; 



7. Neglect on the part of the whales and other so-called '^ herring- 

 hunters " to drive the herrings towards the coast j 



