106 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [8] 
and smoking ought not to be the only way in which herring are pre- 
pared; but every method in which herring can be prepared for the 
market should be taken into consideration. Not only the refuse result- 
ing from the various ways of preparing herring, but also fish which 
from some cause or other are not fit for food, or which owing to their 
superabundance cannot find a market anywhere, ought to be made use 
of. A work like the one referred to above should therefore also describe 
the different methods of making oil, guano, &c. It is not sufficient, 
however, to learn from the experience of other countries, but technical 
and chemical investigations should be made at the expense of thesgov- 
ernment, so as to extend our experience in this comparatively new field 
of knowledge, and to discover new methods of utilizing the herring. 
Millions of dollars might in this way be saved to our country. It has 
already become evident that the fisheries will have to be limited, owing 
to the lack of a ready market for our produets. The first and foremost 
object should therefore be, not how to increase the fisheries by the intro- 
duction of new implements and methods, but how to extend our markets. 
Competent persons, possessed of the necessary experience, should there- 
fore be enabled to study the whole question in all its bearings, and be 
specially commissioned to aid by their experience in raising the herring 
industry to its proper height. 
As the coast of Bohus-lin, through this new industry, becomes eco- 
nomically of greater importance than hitherto, a more rapid and regular 
postal service becomes a necessity. At present the greater portion of 
the Bohus-liin coast receives mails only twice a week, so that letters 
and papers are old when they reach the addresses; which, of course, 
must have an injurious influence on a growing and constantly extend- 
ing trade. 
The experience of Norway and Scotland has demonstrated in the 
most unmistakable manner, that the herring fisheries urgently require 
a sufficient number of telegraph stations along the coast. Connection 
by telegraph between the best harbors on the coast of Bohus lin and 
the telegraph net of the kingdom is a positive necessity, both for sup- 
plying the fishermen and traders with the latest news as to the weather 
and the fisheries by telegram, and for general business purposes. The 
police telegraph plays an important part in superintending the fisher- 
ies and in keeping good order on the coast; and no fisheries can flour- 
ish without it. Telegrams relating to the fisheries furnish the fishermen 
and the captains of the herring vessels with much needed information 
regarding the places where the herring make their appearance or to 
which they have migrated, and regarding the prices, which are princi- 
pally governed by the quality and quantity of the fish caught, and are 
therefore invaluable to the traders in making their calculations. Tele- 
grams relating to the weather will prove of the greatest usefulness to 
both fishermen and traders by enabling them to estimate their chances 
of success. It will hardly need any proof, that a sufficient number of 
