388 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [26] 



animals. Amoug these there are some kinds of fish ^Yhich come from 

 the Cattegat at certain seasons of tlie year and pass through the Sound 

 into the Baltic. In some years these fish will come in cousiderable num- 

 bers, while in others their number is small or they stay away altogether. 

 Among these we may mention the mackerel, the Gadus (vglifinm L., and 

 the horufish {Belone vulgaris). Other tish are found near the coast of 

 Skane all the time, but not in such quantities as to give rise to extensive 

 fisheries. Among these there are several varieties of the flounder, the 

 Gyelopterus lumirm, the Ammodytcs tobianus. and tlie Ammodytes lancca. 



The mackerel Jiaheries. — The mackerel make their api)earauce in scliools 

 about the end of May. On the coast of Skane mackerel fisheries are 

 carried on along a limilod stretch of coast in the northern part of the 

 Sound, i)rincipally by fishermen from Hittarp and Raa. In the Sound 

 proper these fisheries will pay only in exceptional cases, as when there 

 has been a northerly current for several days. The mackerel nets are 

 GO fathoms long and 100 meslies deep ; they are bound in two i)arts and 

 are arranged something like the 7idrdingar (see above), but have only 

 15 meshes to the yard. They are used both as stationary and as floating 

 nets. In the mackerel fisheries each boat has a crew of three men and 

 four nets. In 1881 the Skane mackerel-fisheries yiekled an income of 

 1,010 crowns [$270.G8]. During the last few years the number of mack- 

 erel has decreased very considerably. 



The hornfish fisheries [Belone vulgaris). — These fish, like the mackerel, 

 make their appearance in May and June, and are caught in bottom-nets 

 in the Sound, and on the south coast of Skane in salmon seines. When 

 the horufish liave been seen to go near the coast during the day the 

 school is surrounded with a seine and the fish are driven towards it by 

 throwing stones into the water. During the night hornfish are caught 

 in seines in the same manner as salmon. There are no reliable data as 

 to the income derived from these fisheries. 



This may be tlie proper place to say a few words with regard to the 

 bottom nets, an apparatus which in Sweden is used only in a few places on 

 the coast of Skane. The bottom-net consists of two parts — the so-called 

 "land-arm," and the "head," or the place into which the fish are led 

 and where they are caught (Fig. 19 A, B). The i)rinciple is the same 

 as that of a common trap, but in the bottom-net there is a special bot- 

 tom of net-work which is raised when the net is taken up. Bottom-nets 

 are set even in very shallow water, and often stand in the water only up 

 to a certain height. The deepest net of this kind, near Raa, stands 

 about 2 fathoms in the water. Their dimensions are very considerable, 

 their length being from 9 to 12 fathoms. The largest and most expen- 

 sive are found in the Sound. It is a peculiarity of these nets that the 

 poles which support the net are not driven into the ground, but are held 

 in position by lines and grapnels. Bottom -nets are set as early as April 

 and remain standing till the middle of July, when they are taken 

 ashore to be set again in the middle of August, when they remain in 



