- 14 



le— "/u 1904 

 /2-2»Ib 19Ü5 

 Is-^'s/ii 1905 



Nr. of 

 Fishermen 



10 

 6 



7 



Average 



number of 



traps pr. week 



174 

 128 

 152 



Total catch of 

 cod in kilos 



6828 

 4487 

 6401 



The catch of one of these fishermen totals as follows: 



The same fisherman slated his catch in the autumn 1903 to have been 6000 kilos 

 of cod caught in 3 months with 50 traps. Also in other fjords unusually good catches 

 were made during the same autumn, and the winter 1903—1904 was generally stated 

 by the fishermen to have been characterised by abundance of cod. 



These examples will leave the impression, that tlie occurrence of cod in these 

 waters is remunerative, sometimes even rich. This will be better understood when on 

 the one hand we consider the small area of these waters, and also take into account the 

 small size of the cod in question. The latter fact is easily seen below. (See pag. 15.) 



As a rule the fishing begins towards the latter end of August in the island belt. 

 Towards the end of September the cod, according to the fishermen, migrate into the 

 fjords, the fishermen following with their traps, until the innermost basins are reached. 

 Here the fishing goes on until the middle of November, when as a rule intense cold 

 drives the fish down into deeper water and the fjord is covered with ice. Generally 

 this ice does not break up before the end of March or even the beginning of April, at 

 least in the S0ndeled Fjord. The shoals of cod are thus generally left undisturbed 

 during a greater part of the spawning period, as the trap fishing cannot be carried on 

 from the ice, and handline fishing is of very little importance. When the ice breaks 

 up, the fishermen immediately set their traps in the inner basins of the fiord. In the 

 latter end of April and the first half of May the fishermen gradually work out of the 

 fjord towards the island belt, where the spring fishing ends, the cod according to the 

 experience of the fishermen then retreating from the fjords. These inward migrations 

 of the cod in autumn and the outward migration in spring, asserted by the fishermen, 

 are corroborated by marking experiments. 



The size of the cod caught in traps has been examined by me at all times of 

 the season. The following table represents the typical size of cod caught in traps, as 

 well as an analysis of 138 cod showing average weight of the cod and proportion of 

 mature and immature fish. The examination of the sexual organs is, it will be observed, 

 undertaken in November, and so early in the winter it was impossible to be absolutely 

 certain whether the fish described as immature would not be spawning late in spring. 



