o42 liEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FlSil AND FiyilEEIES. [!()] 



})atieiice of the large number of seine fisliermen was sorely tried. 

 Already in August most of the seine fisliermen liad arrived, and were 

 lying in different parts of tlie fiord, especially near Kvalsoe and Sild- 

 pold. At the end of August it is estimated that their number was 

 about 100 sets ; and their number increased from day to day, so that 

 finally there were 200 in all. Some of them again left the Eids Fiord 

 when the news came by telegraph that there were excellent fisheries 

 near Salten,and some took part in the Oksnres fisbcries,but the majority 

 returned to the Eids Fiord, still hoping that there would be good seine- 

 fishing. On October 15 the herring at last made their appearance in 

 considerable numbers farther out at sea, and partly came near the coast, 

 so that some were caught ; but the seine fisheries did not begin in 

 good earnest till the week between October 24 and 30. The quantity 

 caught during thot period was estimated at 100,000 barrels 5 and later 

 in the season the- seines were in use every day, not one of them lying 

 idle. 



In the beginning the seine fisheries were carried on in a hitherto un- 

 known manner. When about the middle of October large numbers of 

 herring began to make their appearance out at sea, without however 

 coining near the coast, a sort of despair took possession of the fisher- 

 men who had waited for the fish so long, and they attempted either to 

 catch the fish out at sea or to drive them towards the coast. They 

 formed themselves into sets, bound many seines together (it is stated as 

 many as twenty), and cast them in the naiddle of the fiord ; and, with 

 several hundred fathoms of ropes, and by means of sail boats, the 

 entire long chain of seines, with the herring contained in them, was 

 towed towards the shore. Often the contents were lost on the way, 

 but sometimes the fishermen succeeded in securing a number of fish in 

 this manner. This unusual and difficult method, however, soon became 

 unnecessary, as shortly after the herring came to places where they 

 fiould be caught in the usual nmnner. 



We have no exact data as regards the total yield of the seine fish- 

 eries, but as far as they go they arc presumed to be approximately 

 correct. On November 6 the quantity of herring caught was estimated 

 at 50,000 barrels, in addition to which about 125,000 barrels were sup- 

 posed to be in the seines. On November 28 the quantity caught was 

 estimated at 110,000 barrels, and the quantity still remaining in the 

 seines at 100,000 barrels. The great fisheries (properly so called) there- 

 upon came to a closej but although both on November 7 and on Decem- 

 ber 7 the storm broke som<3 large seines, causing a loss each time of 

 from twelve to twenty thousand barrels of tish, the above-mentioned 

 quantity need not be estimated any lower, as there was some fishing all 

 during Novcjnber. The superintendents, therefore, estimate the total 

 yield of the seine fisheries in round figures at 200,000 barrels of fresh 

 fish, or 300,000 barrels of salted fish; if these figures are approximately 



