AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 3415 



A 



the result is that the brine of the ice being of a specific gravity much 

 greater than the surrouudiug sea water, this very cold, heavy water 

 siiiks down to the bottom of the sea, or to a zone which is of the same 

 specific gravity. Hence the result is those different zones in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence which are described in these papers. 



By Mr. Doutre : 



Q. Are you correct in stating that the coldest parts of the ice melt 

 first ? A. Yes. This does look strange at the first blush ; but when 

 you think of it, you will see that the coldest parts must melt first. Now 

 the effect of that is that wherever you have salt-water ice, which is 

 raining down a stream of cold, the moment it gets to the fish, they will 

 not cross this line of cold. The effect of this is most marvelous in the 

 distribution of various kinds of fish in the spring of the year ; and, be- 

 sides, the effect is more marvelous still in the distribution of these 

 zones of cold throughout the gulf, or zones of cold as recently found 

 throughout the Baltic Sea, producing those zones of temperature in 

 which the fish roam during the summer months and find their food. 



By the President : 



Q. What is the third kind of ice ? A. The third kind of Ice is ice 

 that only forms in the coldest waters. It is formed at the bottom of the 

 sea. In a letter which I recently received from Dr. Carpenter, he de- 

 scribes the formation of this ice in the Baltic Sea. It is known in 

 America, especially in relation to fresh-water ice, as anchor-ice : in our 

 rivers it very frequently is found, especially in rapid rivers. There is 

 one condition required for its formation in the sea. You must have a 

 rapid current, or otherwise it cannot form. This arises from the circum- 

 stance that the water is reduced down to the temperature of freezing 

 salt water, which is 27 degrees ; the sea freezes at 27 degrees only, or at 

 25 degrees in perfectly still water ; and when it is brought down to that 

 temperature, the moment that the cold water impinges on any surface 

 ice crystals start out from it, and these ice crystals accumulate one ou 

 the top of the other until they become so light that they break loose 

 and rise to the surface ; hence it is that it is always necessary with re- 

 gard to seal nets which, during the winter season, are sunk from 18 to 

 20 and 22 fathoms, by the Newfoundland sealers, on their coast, or ou 

 the coast of Labrador to watch these nets,, for fear that the corks, 

 during a perfectly clear night, in a rapid current, should become in- 

 crusted with icy particles; and if this happens the whole net will sud- 

 denly become incrusted with the icy particles, rise to the surface, and 

 be carried away, causing the loss of the net. They always find that 

 fish, or anything that may be caught in the nets seals, for example, if 

 they remain for an hour or so in the nets when the anchor-ice is form- 

 ing are frozen. One important point of practical importance with re- 

 gard to the action of ice, to which I would direct attention, is that which 

 the Swedes and Norwegians have now, under the supervision of the Nor- 

 wegian Government, introduced, namely, the finding out before fishing 

 operations commence the zone or depth at which the fish are to be found. 

 This is the first thing that is done. Ou the great fishing-grounds on 

 the coast of Norway, for instance, their first step is to find the depth at 

 which the fish are to be found, and whether it be 10, 50, or 90 fathoms, 

 they will sink their nets to that zone. Tbe way in which they find the 

 zone in which the herring are floating is by means of a very narrow 

 net, which they will set, for example, at night. Such a net will be, for 

 instance, 100 fathoms deep a common seining net inverted. This they 

 sink, and when they take it up they find fish entrapped in it at the zone 



