— 11 — APPENDIX J: NORWAY 



A further characteristic of this cod-fishery, and indeed of most of the Norwegian 

 fisheries, is that the majority of the boats are quite open and of the old viking type. The 

 broken nature of the coast, with its many fjords and sheltering islands, renders the use of 

 such boats possible. 



The gill-net is from 25—30 m. long (80 to 100 ft.), with a mesh of 7 to 9 cm. (3 to 

 3V2 in.) on the side; 24 to 40 of these may be joined to form a long chain, and they are 

 fixed either near the bottom or near the surface. In the cod-fishing of the north, however, 

 (Finmark) the mesh is smaller. Similar nets are also employed for herring, but the usual 

 mode of fishing for this species, as for the mackerel, especially in open waters, is with the 

 drift-net. Another method of procedure is, to «barricade» the herring or mackerel into a 

 corner, by means of a sweep-seine or series of nets placed across the opening of a small 

 cove or part of a fjord. 



The most peculiar form of net is the «synkenot» or cnotlag», a square piece of net 

 some 80 m. by 80, which is let down flat to the bottom and connected at each corner to 

 one of four boats. It is evidently of great use in the herring fishery, particularly of the 

 fat or summer herring. 



Trawling of any kind is practically unknown to the Norwegians, though some steam 

 trawlers have appeared within recent years under the Norwegian flag. 



As might be expected from the modes of fishing, the principal species of food-fishes Fishes of 

 for the Norwegians are the round-fish, e. g. cod, herring, salmon and mackerel. Other iJ'l°tance 

 species of less importance are the haddock, ling, torsk, Norway-haddock (Sebastes), green 

 cod, halibut. The cod however, is by far the most important, contributing from 40 to 60 '*/o 

 or even more in some years, of the entire product of the fisheries. 



Inasmuch as the fishermen remain for the most part at fixed places along the coast, 

 it is evident that the fisheries must be chiefly periodic according to the habits of the 

 fish. Thus, the cod-fishery takes place almost entirely during the first half of the year, 

 mostly March and April, when the cod appears near the coast to spawn (Lofoten) or to 

 feed (Finmark). The herring-fishery is in early winter and spring, when the herring are 

 spawning, and also in summer when they are said to be feeding. The mackerel fishery 

 again is also in summer, and so on. 



Whilst the broken nature of the Norwegian coast, which extends ca. 1,800 miles measured riswng-grounds 

 along a line just outside the islands and fjords, öfters opportunities for a local fishing of 

 some sort everywhere (home-fishery), the principal coast fisheries are carried on at certain 

 fixed places, and have for the most part remained the same for centuries. 



The principal cod-fisheries, for example, are over definite banks of a sandy or muddy 

 nature, 30 — 100 fathoms in depth, which are separated from the rocky precipitous shores 

 of the mainland by deep channels, and lie close to one or other of the many islands off 

 the coast. The chief of these banks are in the Lofoten archipelago of Nordland (Norwegian 

 Sea) between 68 ° and 69 ° N. L. and about 450 nautical miles north of Bergen. From 

 these, the banks extend northward to Vesteraalcn and the Malangsbank off Tromso. The 

 fishing there is in depths under 50 fathoms. South of the Lofotens, at the same time of 

 year, an important fishing for cod takes place on the Sondmere banks oft' the province of 

 Komsdal, ca. 120 nautical miles north of Bergen. These fisheries are of full-grown spawn- 

 ing cod («Skreiii). 



Another fishery for cod takes place a little later in the year, on the far north coast 



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