APPENDIX G _ 24 — 



on charts. We have ascertained, that the plaice is never taken in quantity at greater depths 

 than 100 m., whilst the cod is common at depths of 300 m. ; the halibut has been found at 

 600 m., the ling at 400 m. Below 800 — 1000 m. are found the true deep-sea fishes, which 

 are without economical importance. 



3. Other results 



By means of these investigations on the biology of each separate species, an enormously 

 great material has been collected for the solution of all the questions belonging here ; at the same time : 



a) new fishing grounds have been found which were previously unknown to the 

 fishermen, e. g. on the Norwegian coasts and at the Fseroes. 



b) new economically important species of animals were found, e.g. the nor- 

 thern prawn (Pandalus borealis) at Iceland; the species had previously been discovered in great 

 quantities on the Norwegian coast during the Norwegian fishery experiments. 



The Norway lobster (Nephrops norvégiens) occurs so frequently at various places at 

 Iceland that it might, if used, provide the raw material for a special conserving industry (similar 

 to what is done in the Mediterranean). 



The ink-fish (Ommatostrephes todarus) was found in enormous quantities at Iceland and 

 might, as it is much used as bait, indeed as very valuable bait, be made the basis of a special 

 fishery, as is now done at other places, e. g. in Norway at certain times of the year. 



c) Nevertheless, the most important results of these investigations are not to be sought, 

 in general, in these more or less previously expected discoveries; such discoveries have as 

 a rule been made, and in the future will certainly also be made, only in the far distant 

 waters which do not directly touch the countries having the greatest interest in the rational 

 exploitation of the fisheries, e. g. in the North Sea itself, where all the banks have already 

 been fished and where all important species of fish serve as food for man. Here, the results 

 are to be sought for in quite a different direction. In these waters, which are situated so favour- 

 ably to the markets (high prices, fresh fish) and for carrying on the fishery — on account of 

 which the fishing is much more intense than in more distant waters, the problems are not solved 

 by much fishing. It is a question much more of how to obtain as much as possible from 

 the productive capacity of the ocean, and opinion is getting stronger that the countries 

 must do something here, either because it is feared, that the intense fishery will diminish or 

 has already diminished the productive-capacity, especially of valuable species, or because it is believed 

 that by means of suitable regulations a still greater production than the present can be reached. 



To be able to determine whether the yearly product of the fishery of one or 

 other species has decreased, it is necessary above all things to have an accurate system of 

 statistics over a long period of years; such a system, however, can naturally not be produced 

 within such a short time as has elapsed since the beginning of the international investigations; 

 further, the movements of the fishing-fleets, improvements in the methods and many other 

 things are hindrances to the attainment of such uniform statistics, so that it will perhaps be 

 long before we possess a system which really displays something concerning the decline of a 

 particular fishery, what is considered as over-fishing (see paper "What is over-fishing?" by 

 C. Gr. Joh. Petersen, Jour, of the Mar. Biol. Association, vol. VI, No. 4, December 1903). 



The results of the latest investigations have shown us, however, that this is not indeed 



