[29] THE SPRING HERRING FISHERIES OF NORWAY. 155 
whales are certainly more numerous northward. On the other hand, 
during the previous spring-herring fishing, scarcely any great whales 
were seen, because the earlier spring herring were gravid the whole 
time and followed the same course as the spring herring at the present 
time, in the month of February. 
Another peculiarity of the present spring herring which is not yet 
prepared to spawn is this, that they stay farther out without making 
any attempt to come near the coast. This year, for instance, there was 
hardly any seine fishing until the herring had become ready for spawn- 
ing, and fishing commenced with nets which were set during the night. 
The same was the case last year and the year before last, when fishing 
was carried on with floating nets $ to 2 (Norwegian) miles from the coast. 
It has been supposed that by chasing the herring the great whales 
would prevent them from coming near the coast, as it has several times 
been observed that these whales keep nearer the Jand than the ‘“her- 
ring whales.” This is easily explained, however, by the well-known 
fact that the “herring whales” are afraid of the great whales, and 
therefore keep at a greater distance from the coast. It is, of course, 
not impossible for the great whales to drive the schools of herring 
away from the coast; but, in chasing the herring about without any 
particular aim, one would suppose that they would occasionally also 
drive them towards the coast. This does not therefore appear to be a 
satisfactory cause of this phenomenon. 
It is likewise an open question whether the immature condition can 
be adduced as a satisfactory reason for the fact that the herring keep 
at some distance from the coast. 
During the last two years even the mature spring herring have not 
shown any special inclination to come near the coast, and the fisheries 
have been almost exclusively confined to the little island of Udsire, two 
(Norwegian) miles out at sea, west of Karmé. Here the persecutions 
by the great whales cannot come into consideration, for only very few 
of these were seen in the Udsire waters, and their presence could not 
possibly have disturbed the herring. Last year we had frost during 
the fishing season, and, judging from the experience of former years, it 
was supposed that the low temperature was the reason why the her- 
ring would not come near the coast. This year we had very mild 
weather, and still the herring did not come near the coast. It is well 
known now, however, that it is not absolutely necessary for the herring 
to come near the coast for the purpose of spawning. The spring herring, 
it is true, have, as a rule, sought the coast when they wanted to spawn. 
But, as the spring herring now come in smaller numbers, and as only 
those fish are ready to spawn which arrive late in the season, it may, 
of course, easily happen that the spring herring stay in the outer spawn- 
ing places. If, during the coming years, the spring herring gradually 
reach their maturity earlier in the season and increase in number, the 
schools which arrive first will, as usual, come to the coast of Udsire, 
