340 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [8] 



Hasseloe, whence the Eids Fiord runs farther inland. This news very 

 soon brought together a very considerable number of net-using fisher- 

 men, not only from the neighborhood but also from more distant parts 

 .of Norway-, who, for about 8 weeks, carried on net fisheries with vary- 

 ing, but on the whole encouraging, results in the outermost portion of 

 the Eids Fiord, off Kvalsoe, and in the Vesteraals Fiord. The yield of 

 these fisheries was all the more i)rofltable, as the prices were kept up 

 by the comparatively large number of merchant vessels which had 

 come to the Eids Fiord, and rose in the same proportion as the hope that 

 the herring would go farther up the fiord — thus enabling the fishermen 

 to use seines — vanished day by day. 



From 13 crowns [$3.48] per barrel the price at the end of August 

 rose to 18, 20, and 22 crowns [$4.82, $5.36, and $5.89], and at these 

 prices all the net-fish were sold in the outer part of the fiord. There are 

 no absolutely reliable data as to the entire quantity of fish caught in 

 nets, but the information which has thus far been obtained from ex- 

 perienced captains of merchant-vessels, who were on the spot from the 

 beginning of the fisheries waiting for cargoes, gives reason to believe 

 that the quantity of net-fish brought into the market from this period 

 of the fisheries may be estimated at about 30,000 barrels, besides the 

 considerable quantity of fish for home consumption, as scarcely any of 

 the fishermen using nets, who reside in the district, sold any fish before 

 they had amply supplied their own needs. 



In September the great mass of herring was noticed on the landside 

 of Kvalsoe, all through the deep waters of the fiord ; and during that 

 month, as well as during the first half of October, there w'ere good 

 and sometimes excellent net-fisheries exclusively in these waters. 

 Some nights in October each boat caught from 10 to 15 barrels of 

 herring, and as it is estimated that at this time there were in these 

 waters about 1,000 net-boats, it is evident that the net-fisheries consti- 

 tuted an essential portion of the entire fisheries, although we have not 

 even approximately correct estimates as to the quantity of fish caught. 

 The number of fishermen was, as has been stated, so large that it was 

 impossible for the insufficient number of superintendents, who were not 

 not all appointed till the middle of October, to gather all the necessary 

 information, especially as the fisheries were carried on in an entirely 

 free manner and without any regard to much-needed regulations. In 

 spite of the great quantity of fish, the net fishermen obtained high prices. 

 Up to the week between the 24th and 30th of October, when the seine 

 fisheries began, t he price of a barrel of net herring was 24 crowns [$6.43]. 

 In that week the price fell to 4^ crowns [$1.20]; but although it was as 

 low as 4 crowns [$1.07], and perhaps less, tolerably good net-fisheries 

 were carried on by a gradually decreasing number of fishermen until 

 the middle of December. 



Although, as has been stated, it is impossible to state even approx- 



