BOHUSLAX HERRING-FISHERIES. 235 



especially the fishermen themselves would have been benefited and the 

 future of the herring-fisheries would have been very different from what 

 it is now. 



The great imiDortauce of these herring-fisheries will best be seen from 

 the fact that dming the decade 1770-1780, the average annual quantity 

 of herrings amounted to about a million barrels — 1,100,000 barrels in 

 1787 — and later this quantity was doubled, and, according to some author- 

 ities, even trebled, upwards of three million barrels having been realized 

 in one year/^ It is probable, however, that this last-mentioned figure 

 is somewhat exaggerated, or at any rate is an exceptional case.*^ The 

 number of herrings which came to the coast was so large that the quan- 

 tity caught only rej)resented a very small portion of the whole number j 

 and the fisheries had generally come to a close, not because there were 

 no more herrings, but because every one being supplied with herrings 

 they fetched no price at all. It will be self-evident that such extensive 

 fisheries put large sums of money into circulation. And if we take into 

 consideration the number of people employed in preparing and trans- 

 porting herrings as well as in those trades which are dependent on the 

 fisheries, we will be able to get an idea of the great direct and indirect 

 economical value of these fisheries. The coast of Bohuslan, and especially 

 the district of Elfsyssel, was at that time densely populated, and pos- 

 sessed numerous salting-houses and oil-refineries. The following statis- 

 tics are gathered from official documents : in 1787 there were in Bohus- 

 lan 338 salting-houses and 429 oil-refineries, with a total of 1,812 boilers^ 

 using 40,980 barrels of herrings per day. The number of large seines was 

 358 and of boats 2,100.''^ These figures even increased considerably 



''^Holm'berg, " Boliusl Mst o. hesl:," II, p. 85-86; 2ncl ecL, I, p. 280-281. 



■"P. A. Granberg, " Staden Gotehorgs Instoria och hesh-ifning" [History and. description 

 of the city of Gottenbtirg], Stockholm, 1814-1815, II, p. 158, 159, 216-217, P. Bubi, 

 "Anteckningar om sUIfisket i Bohuslan" [Remarks on the Bohuslan herring-fisheries] in 

 the Transactions of the Royal Academy of Sciences, 1817, p. 33. According to the 

 first-mentioned authority the highest annual export of herrings from Gottenburg was 

 190,000 barrels prepared herrings and 50,000 aumes hen-ing-oil, whilst according to 

 Duhh the export from the whole coast was upwards of 350,000 barrels herrings and 

 120,000 aumes herring-oil. Twenty barrels of herrings of medium quality were re- 

 quired to produce one aume of herring-oil. 



*'''SandUngar och Proiocoller rorande Egl. Majts. i ndder forordnade Beredningofver 

 SiUfiskeri-Handteringens ndrmare reglerande [Official Reports on the herring-fisheries], 

 Gottenburg, 1789, p. 29-30, 37, 43, 54, 89-90, 109, 146, 177, 178, 180, 186. In order to give 

 an idea of this flourishing period and explain the fact that even to this day people are 

 sighing for a return of those halcyon days, we will quote the following from O. Lund- 

 lei'k, Antecknhigar rorande holiuslanska-fiskerierna [The Bohusliin fisheries], Gottenburg, 

 1832, p. 42-43: "He who knew the coast of Bohusliin 25 years ago, and now sees it 

 again, will scarcely be able to refrain from tears. Then it presented an imposing 

 appearance. From the sea itself rose massive walls and pillars supjiorting immense 

 salting-houses and oil-refineries. Farther inland rich warehouses and busy workshops 

 might be seen, as well as palatial residences of the 7nerchants and neat cottages of 

 the fishermen and workingmen. The coast was crowded with a busy throng and the 

 sea studded with sails. Every night it looked as if there were a graud illumination, 



