— 34 — 



The only exception is the Hellefjord, where the numbers of fry obtained pr. haul 

 in September — October 1905 were greatest compared to the other years. This is 

 however more apparent than real. It must be remarked that the investigations during 

 September 1904 were liable to serious accidents. Thus on one occasion the seine was 

 so torn, that a piece of the most close-meshed net in the middle had to be taken out 

 and the seine had to be shortened more than a fathom. The later and in our experience 

 most yielding half of the hauls had to be performed with this shortened seine. The 

 seine had also from long use become very much worn and weakened. For these 

 reasons many fry were lost and the values for September 1904 thus understate the 

 actual conditions. 



In this connection it may also be mentioned that the values for 1905 are probably 

 somewhat overestimated , the larger fry being much mixed with the smallest from the 

 previous season. 



On the whole the conditions in this fjord were difficult on account of irregularities 

 in the bottom, rocks, old stumps and timber, which impeded the hauls. The actual 

 values gained in this fjord are also so small that the merest accident would be sufficient 

 to alter the result. The aggregate numbers of fry obtained were 136 individuals in 

 1904 and 158 individuals in 1905. There is thus so slight a difference that, other 

 sources of error not considered, one single haul might have altered the relation entirely, 

 the difference between the richest and poorest hauls obtained being more than equal 

 to the difference in the aggregate numbers obtained in each year. 



If the above statements are compared with those facts which I have pointed out 

 in the previous chapter, especially the continual occurrence of minute cod fry in autumn, 

 the result to be derived from our present experience may be expressed in the following 

 manner. 



In the different years the main body of the cod fry of the year appears in the 

 littoral region at so different seasons, that the quantities of fry obtained pr. haul with 

 a seine are highly dependent on the date of investigations. 



It is therefore perfectly futile to endeavour to study the real occurrence of cod fry 

 by determining a certain date for investigation and then investigating at this date in 

 different years and finally comparing the results. It is impossible to know if that date 

 suited the conditions of the different years. In fact we never know, when the highest 

 number of fry is present or when the total production of the year is present in the 

 littoral region. 



• But even supposing the results gained in these years as comparable, the above facts 

 still show, that the occurrence of fry for a given season varies immensely from year to 

 year even where artificial hatching has not been employed. The range of this variation 

 is so great, that it is impossible to prove anything regarding the effects of hatching 

 operations, by means of investigating the occurrence of littoral fry one year, then 

 liberating larvae the next year, and finally repeating the investigations as to the 

 occurrence of fry. 



If we wish to base conclusions regarding the effects of hatching upon the present 

 material the only safe way would be to review the quantities of fry obtained in different 

 seasons and different years in relation to each other, for each locality. And this 

 comparison shows, that when there is a scarcity of littoral fry, this scarcity 



