404 REPORT OF COMMlSSIOTs^ER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [6] 



way, sLiill be used to such an extent as to i)revent the nse of the more 

 advautageous net called the pnr.«e-seine {snorpvad). 



We shall now have to inquire what are the prospects of introducing 

 floating-net fisheries on a large scale, and what would be the effect of 

 their introduction on the coast of Bohuslan, With the view to answering 

 this question we shall have to make a brief statement showing the rel- 

 ative cost of the different a|)paratu8, the amount of labor required, and 

 the relative yield, and in doing this we will institute a comparison be- 

 tween the floating-net fisheries on the east coast of Scotland and the 

 Bohuslan seine fisheries. 



The floating nets employed in the Scotch herring- fisheries represent 

 a value of about 12,000,000 crowns [$3,216,000], one-third of which sum 

 must be counted every year for the wear and tear of these nets, while a 

 number of seines with which fully as many herring might be caught 

 would cost only about 1,000,000 crowns [$268,000]. The value of the 

 nets and boats employed in the Scotch herring-fi.sheries is more than 

 20,000,000 crowns [$5,360,0001, and the number of fishermen engaged in 

 these fisheries is about 40,000; while on the coast of Bohuslan, during 

 the best portion of the last herring period, scarcely 6,000 fishermen, 

 with nets and boats whose value (according to modern pri(;es) woidd be 

 oidy about 1,250,000 crowns [$335,000], during a small jtortion of the 

 year would catch a larger quantity of herring than has ever been caught 

 in Scotland during the longer portion of the year when the Scot<;h her- 

 ring-fisheries are going on. The maximum annual yield of the Bohus- 

 Ijin fisheries during the last herring period was about 2,000,000 barrels 

 (1 barrel = 1.65 hectoliters and contains almost 44 gallons) of herring, 

 while in Scotland the maximum annual yield has never exceeded 

 1,750,000 barrels. The sums ex])ended in buying and keeping in repair 

 the material of the Scotch floating-net fisheries are so enormous that 

 the Bohusliin fishermen could never succeed, even during an entire 

 herring period, in raising them. With the means at their command 

 they could get only a small quantity of floating-nets, and the slight in- 

 crease in the yield of tlie fisheries resulting therefrom would hardly 

 justify the change. The question of expense, therefore, i)rincipally 

 stands in the way of a change from our nets to the Scotch floating-nets. 

 A first-class Scotch floating-net boat, fully equipped, costs (see British 

 Fisheries Directory, p. 193) more than 9,000 crowns [$2,412], or at least 

 as much as three sets of Bohuslan nets and boats. A Scotch floating- 

 net boat requires a crew of 6 or 8 men, while an entire set of Bohuslan 

 boats only requires from 12 to 16 men. 



It would be a mistake to think that floating-net fisheries could be 

 successfully managed on a large scale on the coast of Bohuslan with 

 a smaller number of floating-nets, fewer boats, and fewer men than on 

 the east coast of Scotland. If floating-net fisheries on a large scale are 

 1o pay, they must be carried on with suflicient material and with a suf- 

 ficient number of men. Three men will never be able to haul in a set of 



