— 114 — 
cod encountered on the way, the latter pursuing and greedily devouring them. I have 
found between twenty and thirty of these fish in the stomach of a single cod. Among 
their other enemies are the fin-whales and certain Arctic birds,so that the shoals with their 
pursuers can be observed at a great distance. I had occasion to observe this combined 
movement of capelan, cod, and birds, in 1901, when I encountered them far to the east 
of Finmarken before any had as yet appeared on the coast, so that there was no doubt 
of the fact that migration was taking place. The presence of the capelan could be dis- 
cerned by shooting the birds or capturing the cod which had devoured them. The fisher- 
men of the Murman and Finmark coasts have naturally acquired considerable experi- 
ence as to this immigration, on which the early fishery in Finmarken so largely depends. 
During their landward progress in February, March and April, the capelan are as a rule pur- 
sued by cod of smaller size, the skrei being for the most part far distant from the Barents 
Sea at the time, spawning on the skrei banks away to the west. As to the locality in 
which the fish approach the shore, this is probably dependent on various factors, as for 
instance, the earlier prevailing conditions with regard to ice and temperature of the 
water farther to the north and east in the Barents Sea, and the state of the water near 
the coast itself. The fish make land sometimes in the east, sometimes m the west. Men 
acquainted with the waters assert that when there are quantities of capelan near Bear 
Island, then the fishery is better m the west; when the capelan congregate chiefly in 
the eastern part of the Barents Sea, then there is better fishing on the eastern part of 
the Finmark coast. 
It is thus evident, that the Finmark stock consists in reality of two component 
parts, the “loddefisk” and the “skrei”, each of which approaches the coast from a dif- 
ferent quarter. It will readily be understood that the fluctuations in the composition 
of these two elements, and their varying locality of occurrence, combine to render the 
stock in the Finmark waters a highly complicated whole. And it will immediately be 
seen that the fishery in a certain year may at first, say in March-April, consist exclu- 
sively of small cod, until the mass of the skrei arrive from the west, in May, June, or 
July. Or the reverse may be the case, the skrei being the more important all through 
the season. 
Size of the Finmark fish. 
For several years, material has been collected as to the Finmark fish, especially by 
means of measurement, some 9,000 fish in all having been measured. The investigations 
embrace the years 1901, 1902, 1905, 1906, 1909 and 1913. 
Commencing, as in the case of the skrei, with all the measurements as a whole, we 
find the figures shown in the table on p. 115 and Fig. 74. 
The figure includes, for purposes of comparison, a curve indicating the composi- 
tion in point of size of the skrei as shown in Fig. 55 already referred to. 
As against this, the corresponding curve for the Finmark fish will be found con- 
siderably more elongated in form, and contains a far higher percentage of younger stages. 
This is clearly shown by the following figures. 
Under 65 cm. Over 65 cm. 
Finmark Fish.... DENTS 47.2 0/6 
STE an seinen dee 9.8 - 90.2 - 
