L^^l THE FISHERIES OF SWEDEN. 375 



ject. From the information obtained from old fishermen it a,„)eirs 

 however, that such changes have always taken place. The followinc; 

 data from Raa, in the central part of the Skane Sound coast, and from 

 Liinhamn, m the southern part of the same coast, have been obtained 



"on"^^ isrst '''"• ""• ''^"'' "^ ''' ^'^'^ ''^^•^^'"^^"' «^^^- '^^'-'^ 



rom 1866 to 1868 there were very good herring fisheries in tlie Sound, 

 the best that he can remember; the herring were small, and sold for 



^^ ""'A ;lo'"*?^ ^^' ^^ ^'^'""^ ' '""^ ^^'^^ '^^y gradually increased in 

 size till 18/2, when the herring fisheries came to a close. In 1871 the 

 greatest number of lierring caught in the Sound were caught near Raa, 

 but not one-fourth the number caught in 1868. In 1872 no herrin- were 

 ound in the Sound, and the Raa fishermen had to go as far south as 

 the Danish island of Moen in order to catch fish. Several Limhamu 

 fishermen have stated that during the period from 1867 to 1869 there 

 were very good small-herring fisheries, while in 1870 the herring were 

 somewhat larger, and in 1871 considerably larger ; from 1873 to 1875 

 the fisheries were very poor ; in 1876 and 1877 there were some fisheries- 

 m lb 8 and 1879 the fisheries were tolerably good; and in 1880 and 

 io«i they were very good. 



lu his treatise on tbe species of herring in the Soand, Wintber states 

 hat after some years' poor fishing, the fisheries became very good in 

 ISO, when a large nnmber of small herring made their appearance in 

 the Sound, and increased in size till 1873, when the majority of herring 

 were large. They grew still larger in 1874, and after that year disap 

 peared from the Sonnd, so that in 1875 only a small nnmber of littte 

 herrmg were caught. Another Danish author, J. Collin, states that in ^ 

 the Sound, north of Helsingor, the best herring-flsheries of recent time" 

 occurred in the period from 1.SC5 to 1870, the clima.^ being reached du" 



'Z^^l^sT ''''■ ^'""" ■■'^•' ''''-'- 0—1 in 1830, 



It is a well-known fact that good years alternate with bad years in the 



h storTokhrr '"""^^--ei™ -turalist, A.el Boecks, made he 



history of the Norwegian sprnig-herring fisheries the subject of exhaust- 



ve investigations, was an actual periodicity in the appearance of he 



herring fully demonstrated. A similar regular increase and decrease of 



theflsherieswasassumedforthcSoundherring-asheriesbyWinther He 

 presumed that the length of each period was about eight years com.ted 

 from he best year, till the fisheries again became poor. TeeonliTtl 

 his calculat ons there were poor fisheries for two years, showing l^ow 



oTedV:"tr' '" "^"""f^"-' «>- f'-y-- good flXrfe's ;i" 



pity *.™5^f ^ poor fisheries with a tendency to become wwse 

 Bycontinumg these statistics for a considerable number of years i 

 could be shown whether the actual facts bear out Winther's view 

 It IS a noteworthy fact, mentioned by all our informants, that the her- 



the same time ,n number from year to year, until they disappear 



