IX -THE GREAT HERRING FISHERIES CONSIDERED FROM AN 

 ECONOMICAL POINT OF VIEW.* 



By Axel Vilhelm Ljungman. 



j The fame and importance of the great herring-fisheries make them 

 'worthy of becoming the subject of scientific treatment from an economic 

 point of view. But as most writers on political economy have not 

 occupied themselves with the sea fisheries, any attempt to say some- 

 thing on the economic significance of these fisheries meets with great 

 difficulty. It is necessary, however, in order to fathom the actual im- 

 portance of these fisheries. 1 have therefore gathered some data which 

 may assist the solution of this question, which has hitherto been some- 

 what neglected. 



I must first give some explanations of technical terms and speak of 

 the difference between coast fisheries and high-sea fisheries. These 

 {terms are frequently employed, but most persons use them without 

 having a correct idea wherein consists the difference between these two 

 principal methods of fishing. 



I Coast fisheries may be carried on near the coast or at some distance 

 from it. Their characteristic feature is that the fisherman every day 

 carries the fish he has caught to the port where he lives, and where the 

 fish are sold, either for immediate consumption or for being manufact- 

 ured into an article of merchandise. 



In the high-sea fisheries, which, as the name implies, are invariably 

 carried on at a considerable distance from the coast, the fishermen are 

 compelled to keep the fish on board their vessels for several days, or 

 prepare them out at sea. 



i It is evident that the difference between these two methods of fishing 

 is of very great importance as regards the quality of the prepared fish. 

 In a small fishing vessel there are not the same facilities for preparing 

 the fish as in a spacious establishment on shore. The owner cannot 

 superintend the preparation on board as well as he can do it at home in 

 his salt-house. The consequence is that the preparation on board a 

 fishing vessel out at sea, especially when a large quantity of fish is 



''Om de stora sillfiskena, letraktade fran nationalekonomiak synpunht. A paper read be- 

 fore the Swedish Economic Society, February 26, 1883. Translated from the Swed- 

 ish by Herman Jacobson. • 



[1] '^1 



