202 FISH CULTUKE. 



I have lately heard that the anticipations of the in- 

 exhaustible abundance of fish to be found at Eockall, 

 which were at first so confidently indulged in, have 

 not been so fully realized by subsequent experience. 

 Whether the deficiency is an actual and permanent 

 one, or only temporary and accidental, time alone 

 will show. 



The most valuable fish which visits our coasts is, 

 unquestionably, the Herring. In Norway, the strongest 

 and most careful measures are adopted to keep this 

 fish upon their coasts, and to induce it to multiply 

 and return to them. Every facility that science and 

 ingenuity can suggest is offered to its spawning in 

 the numerous fiords, and the spawn and fry is not in 

 any way disturbed or suffered to be molested, for fear 

 of driving the fish elsewhere ; and well may such 

 measures be adopted, for in Norway there are 40,000 

 fishermen engaged in this fishery yearly. In Scot- 

 land, where the fishery is very extensive, there are 

 said to be something like 70,000 persons engaged in 

 fishing and curing, and 11,000 vessels of all sizes. 

 Of course a very large proportion of these persons 

 are curers, a vast number of them women, who have 

 also other occupations. 



To show further the magnitude of the-, interests 

 involved in our fisheries, I may state that, according 



