SEA FISHERIES 139 



turn out more than two or three hundred million 

 fry per annum, which is no more than the natural 

 product of forty or fifty fair-sized fish. As part 

 of their work under the international scheme, 

 the Norwegians have investigated this problem 

 by selecting four fjords along their south coast in 

 proximity to the hatchery, and planting the fry 

 in alternate fjords, leaving the intermediate fjords 

 unsupplied. The relative abundance of young 

 cod in the various fjords was then carefully 

 investigated throughout the succeeding summer 

 and autumn months. It was found that there 

 was absolutely no relation between the abundance 

 of young fish and the presence or absence of 

 " artificial " fry. In 1904, thirty-three million 

 fry were planted in Sondele, and young fish were 

 exceptionally abundant in the following autumn, 

 but their abundance was equally striking in 

 other fjords in which no fry had been planted, 

 while in 1905 all the fjords were deficient in 

 young cod, whether they had been planted with 

 fry from the hatchery or not. It would seem 

 from these experiments that the remedy for the 

 depletion of the North Sea fishing grounds will 

 have to be sought elsewhere than in artificial 

 hatching. 



