The value of the yield amounted in 1909 to 86 million shillings, or about 45.4 % 
of the total value of all the North Sea fishery. 
The participation of the various countries in the herring fishery of the North Sea 
exhibits differences, not only in the amount of the yield, but also in the methods employed. 
From Norway, very little open sea fishing is carried on; only in the autumn does some 
drift net fishery take place on the Viking bank, due west of Bergen. The great mass 
of the yield cited in the above table as for Norway applies to the Norwegian spring her- 
ring fishery, which is exclusively coast fishing. In all other North Sea countries, the 
coast fishery plays a comparatively insignificant part. Herring are taken along the 
coast everywhere; in the Scottish firths, in English and German bays, the mouths of rivers, 
and in the Zuyder Zee, but in small quantities. The true North Sea herring fishery 
of all these countries is carried on in open sea, on the North Sea banks, with drift net 
or trawl. The fishermen have in many ways adapted their methods in the most econo- 
mical manner according to the conditions which prevail in their respective countries. 
Along the coasts of England and Scotland, where the great shoals of herrmg move close 
to the shore, it pays to fish from small vessels, and to bring the catch fresh to market 
each day. The German, Dutch, and Belgian fishermen, who have farther to go to the 
fishing grounds, are obliged to make long voyages of five to six weeks’ duration, and 
salt their catches on board. It is nowise within my sphere, however, to describe these 
different methods of fishing; it must only be borne in mind, in consideration of the fol- 
lowing, that all catches made in this great North Sea fishery are made either with the 
drift net or with the trawl. Until a few years ago, the drift nets were the only imple- 
ments of importance, and even in 1912, the herring taken with the trawl amounted to 
only 4.4 °/, of the total yield. By far the greatest numbers are thus taken with the 
drift net; the equipment, as regards these implements, is also enormous. In the Scottish 
fishery statistics for 1910 we find that the total area of the nets in use in that year amoun- 
ted to no less than 119,626,340 square yards. 
Drift nets and trawl. 
These drift nets have, in the course of long experience, been adapted to the capture 
of such sizes of herring as are generally found in greatest numbers on certain fishing 
grounds. The size of the mesh is therefore not everywhere the same. 
The English fishery investigations have carried out extensive observations as to 
the relation, in point of size and maturity, between the drift net hauls and trawl catches 
of herring. Fig. 30 shows the results of these investigations, which are based upon a 
very large amount of material, between 15 and 16,000 herrings having been measured. 
The full line curve shows the size of the trawl-caught fish, the dotted curve that of those 
taken with the drift net. (The curves show, for both groups, what percentages lie below 
each of the centimetre sizes marked on the abscissa). It will be noticed that the differ- 
ence between the two catches is very slight. Comparison of the degree of maturity in 
the two groups also revealed considerable similarity, with the exception of the spent 
fish, which did not appear in the trawl catches at all. (On the bottom?) 
Drift net fishing has been carried on in the North Sea for several hundred years, 
and an extensive literature exists dealing with the interesting history of this fishery 
and all the important observations which have been made in course of time by the hun- 
