356 REPOKT OF COMMISSIONEK OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [4] 



speak for this. The loug time which has elapsed during which no se- 

 rious attempt has been made to settle this question is in itself a proof 

 of the necessity for having- the fisheries specially represented in the 

 central administration. It may be useful in this connection to give a 

 brief review of what other countries have done in this respect. 



Sweden.— At present the fisheries are in charge of the managing 

 committee of the Eoyal Academy of Agriculture, whose chairman, who 

 is also always the director of the academy, is appointed by the King. 

 This committee appoints the following officers, who are responsible to 

 it: One superintendent of the freshwater and Baltic fisheries, with two 

 assistants; and one professor of fish-culture. 



Several of the provincial agricultural associations have a superintend- 

 ent of fisheries, who is paid in ])art by the provincial government and in 

 part by the association, and who has to report to both. Halland, Mal- 

 mohus, and Christianstad have a superintendent in common, while 

 Bohus, Wiirmeland, Sodermanland, Gefleborg, and Linkoping have one 

 each. In those districts which have special fishery laws, the districts 

 appoint district superintendents, who report to the i)rovincial su[)erin- 

 tendent. In 1883 the Association for Promoting the Bohusliin Fislieries 

 was formed, whose object is the same as that of the Norwegian associa- 

 tion. 



A royal commission, appointed to consider the propriety of changing 

 the fishery laws, has in its memorial, dated IMarch 3, 1883, proposed 

 the creation of a commission of fisheries, to consist of one director, one 

 secretary, four superintendents of fisheries, each having a separate dis- 

 trict, and a number of ichthyologists, emjdoyed temporarily for special 

 purposes. The director is to be a])pointed by the King, and the other 

 officers by the Secretary of the Interior. 



Denmark. — The fisheries are under the Depaitment of the Interior. 

 In Lym Fiord there is a superintendent of fisheries, with one assistant 

 and four rowers. In the Cattegat a gunboat is stationed to watch over 

 the fishing interests, and on the west coast of Jutland there is an armed 

 schooner for the same purpose. The department pays a gentleman to 

 act as adviser in all matters pertaining to the fisheries, but, as that 

 gentleman holds another ofdce, the fisheries are to him only a matter of 

 secondary interest, and his pay is only $268 per annum. In 1884 there 

 was formed an association to promote the fisheries in Denmark and the 

 Danish Colonies (especially the two islands, Iceland and Greenland). 



There is a project on foot to change the present arrangement in con- 

 nection with a proposed revision of the fishery law. It is proposed to 

 have two inspectors of fisheries, one for the Danish Islands and the 

 south of Jutland, to be stationed at some place on the Great Belt; and 

 one for the north of Jutland, to be stationed at some place on Lym 

 Fiord. Each of these inspectors is to have two assistants and a num- 

 ber of rowers. In order that the provisions of the law may be i^roperly 



