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138 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. — [12] 
says the governor in his report, ‘that there were great herring near 
the coast,” but ¥n no case did they approach it very closely. 
In 1876 no great herring were found in any portion of the Nordland 
eoast. Farther north, in the district of Tromso, it is said that a small 
percentage of great herring were found among the fat herring. | 
The great herring fisheries, therefore, came to an end, after a gradual 
disappearance of the great masses of herring in a direction from north to 
south, in a similar manner as the spring-herring fisheries. 
It is peculiar that the great herring did not, like the spring herring, 
confine themselves to the northermost of their old accustomed landing- 
places, but sought new places, going north towards the Vestfiord. In 
the occurrence of great herring near the coast of Finmark in 1873, 
we probably find a phenomenon of a similar character. One would 
think that the great herring also, particularly in 1875, after having 
left the coasts of Nordland and Tromsé, would have appeared later in 
larger numbers near the coast of Finmark, but it is expressly reported 
(see Norges Statistik) that in 1875 and the following years no herring 
came near the coast of Finmark. 
In 1871, and also later, the great herring went farther up the inland 
fiords than they had ever done before, and this must be considered as 
avery marked and remarkable change in the occurrence of the herring, 
which hitherto had been extremely regular. I will here only note the 
fact that during the following year, 1872, the Helgeland fisheries com- 
menced to decline. The migration of the herring in the direction, of 
the Vestfiord, taken in connection with the circumstance that the her- 
ring went higher up the inland fiords seems to point to a changed con- 
dition of the coast waters towards the close of the great herring fish- 
eries. 
With regard to the quality of the herring, it was reported that the 
great herring caught near Helgeland in 1873 were mixed with smaller 
kinds of herring resembling spring herring, which was considered as 
an indication that the masses of great herring were disappearing. I 
have no exact information as to the degree to which the herring were 
mixed. In the northern districts, where the herring did not decrease 
so much in number, the size of the great herring seems not to have 
undergone any considerable change. Altogether there was less change 
both as to number and size in the great herring, till they disappeared 
entirely, than in the spring herring. 
From information found in the reports of the governors regarding the 
time when the great herring arrived at the different fishing stations, 
it appears that the time of arrival did not undergo any considerable 
change, and there is no indication whatever that towards the end of the 
fishing period it took place later in the year. In this respect, therefore, 
the great herring differs from the spring herring. The conditions under 
which the great herring lived certainly differed from those of the 
spring herring, which, as well as in other ways, is shown by the fact 
