STATISTICS OF THE LOFFODEN FISHERIES FOR 1878. 249 

 Proportion of s^awners and milters. 



Apparatus used. 



robruary, 



March 1-18. 



From March 19. 



Average percentage. 



54 



Bottom-nota 



rioatiii^-nets | 



Pottomliiies 64 



Float mg-lines 63 



C6 



47 



54 40 



46 40 



.W 3G 



70 46 



52* 

 40 

 43* 

 45 



.3 



35* 

 30 

 4IJ* 

 31 



■* Observations of 1877. 



As far as the bottom -apparatus is concerned tbis year's observations 

 agree with those of last year, and may therefore be considered closed. 

 They agree, moreover, with those natiu-al conditions which the super- 

 intendent considers as the cause of the statistical data as far as the 

 spawners are concerned. The floating-lines show during the first half 

 of IMarch a larger percentage of spawners than the bottom-lines. More 

 accurate observations, however, would have but little practical signifi- 

 cance as far as the statistical data of spawners are concerned, and they 

 will therefore not be continued. The discrepancy between the results of 

 the two kinds of apparatus may possibly be caused by the small number of 

 observations (only 80), as there is no cause to suppose that there is any 

 difference between the bottom and the floating apparatus as regards the 

 spawners and milters. As Professor Sars has made entirely different 

 observations and has given his reason for them, I shall endeavor briefly 

 to refute his views. 



Professor Sars says in his report (p. 55): "Those boats which had used 

 bottom-nets had almost exclusively caught milters, whilst more spawners 

 had been caught by those who had employed floating nets or lines. 

 That the x)roportion between spawners and milters must be such, I could, 

 even without palpable ijroof, have told people beforehand from my ob- 

 servations of the full-grown roe." The observations made by me and 

 my assistants show that the majority of fish caught in bottom-apparatus 

 may be milters, but they likewise show that occasionally the majority 

 may be spawners, and that on an average an equal number of both 

 kinds are caught. It is both improbable and impossible, that milt- 

 ers should be caught exclusively in bottom-apparatus and spawners in 

 floating-apparatus. It is improbable, because the floating-net is 12-40 

 fo thorns from the bottom, and if the professor's observations were cor- 

 rect a similar extent of water must intervene between the milters and 

 spawners. It is impossible, because floating-nets are not used very ex- 

 tensively, viz, only by the fishermen at the stations east of Sorvaagen, 

 and where should the large proportion of spawners come from, if the 

 bottom-nets caught only milters 1 



