[9J STATISTICS OF NORWEGIAN FISHERIES. ^41 



iuiately the result or the value, of the uet-fisheries, either as a whole or 

 the average per boat, it can be stated with absolute certainty that they 

 have yielded a very good, and in some cases even an exceedingly good, 

 income to ail persons engaged in, them. As an instancu^ of this it may 

 be mentioned that a crew, consisting of three men, caught fish to the 

 value of 12,000 crowns [$3,216j, while individual fishermen repeatedly 

 brought home fish to the value of from 4(10 to SOO crowns [1107.20 to 

 $214.40] and more. The largest quantity of fisli was certainly caught 

 by fishermen from outside the district, ])nt their experience and skill as 

 well as their apj)aratus and boats were superior to those of the district 

 fishermen, who unless they had imitated the example set them by the 

 foreign fishermen would scarcely have caught as much as they did. 

 During the entire period of their presence in the Eids Fiord the herring- 

 showed a tendency to stay in deep water. It has thus been observed 

 that the herring, which generally when pursued by their enemies come 

 to the surface, have during these fisheries endeaV'Ored to avoid the 

 threatening dangers of every kind by going down to the bottom and 

 remaining there. People think that this has been the cause why they 

 remained in the fiord so long, instead of being, as formerly, chased out 

 again by their pursuers, the cuttle-fish, alter having stayed only a short 

 while. The cuttle-fish when chasing herring is supposed to rise toward 

 the surface, and by going down'to the bottom and staying there quietly 

 the herring would escape this enemy. Whatever may be the cause of 

 this fact, it exercised a considerable influence on the net-fisheries until 

 the arrival of the foreign fishermen. Carried ou only by the inhabit 

 ants of the district, who, according to their long-established custom, 

 sought the herring only near the surface, and whose net-rope was seldom 

 more than 30 fathoms long, the fisheries would yield an unequal quan- 

 tity of fish per boat ; for the boats would fish close to each other, just 

 according to their coming across a greater or smaller school of herring; 

 which had separated i'rom the great mass of herring and had gone nearer 

 the surface. It therefore happened frequently that one boat hauled in 

 its net full of fish, while another boat not far from it hauled it in almost 

 empty. But although people supposed that the great mass of herring 

 remained near the bottom, no one thought of arranging their apparatus 

 in such a manner as to reach the fish. The foreign net-fishermen took 

 hold of the matter in an entirely diflerent manner. Furnished with 

 sufficiently long net-ropes, they searched for the herring toward the 

 bottom, experimenting and letting the net down lower and lower, until 

 at a depth of from 80 to 100 fathoms they found the great mass of 

 herring and henceforth continued to make rich hauls. The districL 

 fishermen immediately began to improve their apparatus, and to im- 

 itate the example set them by the foreigners, and the result was that 

 they too began to catch large numbers of fish. 

 While the net-fishermen for weeks had good and steady fishing, the 



