408* REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [10] 



hibition of 1876, aud by Mr. VValleni, a uewspaper editor of Bergen. 

 From Norway the pnrse-seine was brought to Bohuslau, where several 

 newspaper articles directed public attention to it, and caused several 

 persons to order this apparatus, which soon, owing to the good results 

 obtained with it, found more gcjieral favor. In the last official report 

 on the Bohusliin sea-fisheries the following is said regarding this new 

 apparatus : 



" Purse-seine No. 1, from Ockero, has caught fish to the value of 29,000 

 crowns [17,772], and the three other purse-seines which were received 

 here in autumn caught lish to the value of 16,000, 6,000, and 3,500 

 crowns [$4,288, $1,608, and $938], respectively. In consequence twenty 

 more of these purse- seines have been ordered, some by the Fishery As- 

 sociation and some by private individnals." 



If we take into consideration the circumstance that the above-men- 

 tioned large sums Avere received for fish sold by the boat-load, which 

 under other conditions of sak^ might have brought a much higher price, 

 and that our fishermen have had but little experience in the use of this 

 apparatus, there ought to be no longer any doubt that the purse-seine is 

 far more profitable than any other apparatus used in the herring fisheiies. 

 The object of the Bohusliin fisliermen in engaging in the hening fish- 

 eries is to earn money, and the> will, therefore, choose that apparatus 

 which promises the largest income. The Bohusliin fishermen do not 

 care in the least for the highly scientific theories promulgated by the 

 Stockholm Academy, and all attempts to induce them to abandon an 

 apparatus which has proved profitable will bo futile. Professor Nils- 

 son was fully aware of this, and declared openly that floating-nets could 

 only be generally introduced at Bohusliin if the use of seines was pro- 

 hibited. As there is no longer any talk of proliibiting the use of seines, 

 the victory of this a])paratus may be considered complete. 



In developing the fisliing industries it is imi)Ossible to do everything 

 at once and to introduce every possible improvement at the same time; 

 but the proper way is to follow a Avell-arranged plan, according to which 

 new iujproveinents will gradually and in a perfectly natural way gain 

 grouud. Such a step towards a wise development of our herring fish- 

 eries is the introduction of the purse-seine, as thereby not only our 

 herring fisheries will be greatly furthered, but also our deep-sea fish- 

 eries will be saved from extinction, to which they are otherwise certainly 

 doomed. The last ofiicial report on the Bohusliin sea fisheries can no 

 longer conceal the sad facts, Ixit makes the statement that the fishing 

 fleet engaged in the bank tisheries in 1882 decreased by 22 vessels. The 

 floating-net fisheries, on the other hand, as the experience of Germany 

 and other countries teach us, do not form such an advantageous start- 

 ing point for a new development of the sea fisheries. There is a great 

 difference between endeavors to introduce an apparatus like the float- 

 ing-net, whose use is uncertain and in which the fishermen have no con- 

 fidence, and the attempts to make the use of the purse-seine more 



