1124 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONEE OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



sibly the attempts to introduce the " hommor "-fisheries have not been 

 made everywhere with the same degree of energy. 



The migrations of the eels along the coast liave not attracted the at- 

 tention of naturalists as much as tbey deserve. It is true that men like 

 Kroyer, Nilsson, and others have pointed out that this was a matter of 

 great interest, but in works on the fauna it is mainly only the question 

 as to the young fry of the eel ascending the rivers from the sea which 

 is treated. Tbat the fish migrate along the coast is proved by the posi- 

 tion in which the fishing apparatus or the " hommor " has to be placed, 

 if the fisheries are to be successful. On the east coast the " hommor" 

 are placed in such a manner that the eels have to enter them from the 

 north, while on the south coast the fish have to enter them from the 

 east, and in the sound from the south. On the Danish coasts, in the 

 Great and Little Belts, the eels coming from the east and south are like- 

 wise reported to wander in a northwestern direction towards the Kat- 

 tegat. Everywhere the fishermen maintain that there is no use in 

 I)laciug the fishing apparatus in another position ; they say that the eel 

 approaches the land from deep waters, where it turns and is led into the 

 "hommor" in the natural course of its migration. The idea suggested 

 thereby, that the migration along the coast is nothing but describing a 

 circle from the dei)ths to the coast, and back, is thoroughly refuted by 

 the method of placing the " hommor," 



There is, therefore, no doubt that a migration of the eels takes place 

 along the coasts of the Baltic towards the sound and the Kattegat, 

 and there can be but little doubt as to the cause of it. It is' most as- 

 suredly connected with the process of propagation. As the salmon 

 ascends the rivers from the sea, and does not reach sexual maturity till 

 that period, the eel, reversing this, seeks the Salter water, which seems 

 necessary for maturing its sexual organs. Where and at what time the 

 eels spawn in the sea is still an open question, which can only be an- 

 swered satisfactorily by continued observations and investigations. 



The time when the eel-fisheries are carried on along the Swedish coast 

 corroborates the supposition of the migration along the coast, referred 

 to above. These fisheries commence at Grissleham and Landfort in 

 July, in East Gothland and the Kalmar district towards the end of 

 July and last till October, while in Schoneu the fisheries commence in 

 August, and do not yield many fish till September and October. In the 

 sound the eel-fisheries do not commence before September. The first 

 eels are here generalh' caught in October. At Humlebeck, on the Dan- 

 ish coast of the sound, about a mile from Elsinore, the eel-fisheries 

 commence tow^ards the end of October and do not come to a close till 

 the 10th of ]S"ovember. This shows that the ideas relative to the mi- 

 grations of the eel along the coast towards the Kattegat, expressed 

 above, are very probably correct. 



As in Komacchio, so also in Sweden, experience has taught that dark, 

 stormy, and rainy nights are most favorable to the eel-fisheries. In 



