eee TO (yh 
rapid during the period from May to July, the curves of growth being correspondingly 
steeper here*). The two year old herring have thus approximately the same length 
in the autumn as the three year old fish in April. 
We will now consider the composition with regard to size and age as exhibited by 
the investigation of some samples of the different classes of herrmg. It must, however, 
continually be borne in mind that the sizes and average sizes in a certain shoal may 
be widely divergent from the above-mentioned mean figures for the whole year classes. 
The small herring and fishery for same. 
| Smail herring are found from year to year in great numbers along the coast; in 1911 
m Gal aa Gee 
„June. | July. Aug. |Sept. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Jan. 
Fig. 12. Diagram illustrating the average increment (¢,) of the herrings 
between Dec. 1909 and May 1911. The broken curve denotes increment in the 4th growth period 
of the herrings (¢,) (LEA) 
the total yield was no less than 700,000 hl. These small herrings are used for bait, 
for canning, and for the manufacture of oil. 
As the herring spawn in the spring, (March, April) it will be readily understood 
that the fry during their first summer are too small to be taken with the implements 
employed by the fishermen. Not until late autumn and winter, when they are 2/, to 34 
year old, do those which have had most rapid growth reach a size of 7 to 8 cm. in length, 
when they can no longer pass through the mesh of the herring seines. There is then 
a very distinct difference in size between these fish and those of the year class imme- 
diately preceding, (see Fig. 5). The fishermen therefore distinguish between these two 
groups, and give them different names; the herring of 2/,, 34 or one year of age, meas- 
uring 7—10 or 11 em. in length, are known on the West Coast as “musse”, and on the 
North Coast as “kril”. The fish of the preceding year class, or rather, those of 1%, 1/5, 
*) This may be otherwise in other waters. Le4’s investigations apply to the West Coast. 
