322 REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [8] 



sively used during the fishing season, as long as there are any large 

 codfish near the coast. If the cod are lean and if there are many had- 

 dock on the banks, as well as later in the season (especially after the 

 spawniiig is over), long-lines are used. In the southern part of the Faxe 

 Bay nets are used to catch the incoming cod ; in March and April hand- 

 lines are used as soon as the cod will bite, or as soon as haddock make 

 their appearance. Long-lines are also used as soon as the codfish be- 

 come inferior in quality. In the Westland no nets are used, and as a 

 reason for this it is stated that when the cod approach the coast there 

 are sharks among them, which are apt to injure the nets. Hand-lines 

 without bait are used wherever there is a current, and long-lines with 

 bait wherever there are fish to which this method of fishing is 

 adai)ted. In the eastern fiords long-lines are generally used during 

 the summer fisheries. 



Making a rough calculation, it may be said that more than one-third, 

 in fact nearly one-half, of all the fish caught are caught with hand-lines, 

 and the remainder with nets or long-lines. The results of the net 

 fislieries vary grea;tly. If properly cured, most of the fish caught with 

 hand-lines will make the best klip-fish. The net fisheries yield the 

 heaviest fish, but many of these make only a second or third rate article, 

 because the fish remain too long in the nets. The fish caught with long- 

 lines are generallj^ lean or small, and make only an inferior kind of klip- 

 fish. In many places in Iceland hand-lines are preferred to the expensive 

 nets. On rocky or stony bottom long-lines or nets could not be used at all. 

 For catching the genuine large sea codfish, the long-line is rarely suited; 

 while it is used a great deal for catching fish which have spawned, small 

 codfish, and haddock. 



G. Bait is substantially as Mr. A. has stated. Where lump-fish are 

 caught, the roe of the female is very commonly used as bait, as well as 

 the roe of other fish. In the entire southern portion of the Faxe Bay 

 and in many other places a great many lump-fish are caught from April 

 1 to the end of June. To each fishing-boat belong at least from 3 to 5 

 nets, which during that period are set every day, not only to procure an 

 article of food, but particularly because the roe, the sucking-disk, and 

 the head make excellent bait. 



7. It is true that crabs are found in the stomach of the codfish, but it 

 must be said that the food of the cod is the same in Iceland as in other 

 places, and that it is of so varied a character that it is difficult to enu- 

 merate it briefly. One of its favorite articles of food, when near the 

 shore,is the sand-eel {Ammodytes tohianus) and different kinds of herring. 

 The enormous number of sand-eels found near the coast of Iceland is 

 the principal cause why the codfish and the haddock stay there not only 

 during the siiawning season but much longer. 



8. The fishermen from the Faroe Islands do most of their fishing dur- 

 ing the i)leasant season of the year in the eastern fiords for small cod 

 and haddock ; and to call them the " best boat- fishermen at Iceland " is 

 unjust to the Icelanders. 



