XII. -THE ICELAND COD FISHERIES IN 1883 J 



By C. Teolue, 

 First Lieutenant in the Danish Navy. 



The favorable reports which reached us from Faxa Bay, stating that 

 very successful winter-fisheries had commenced near the southern part 

 of lce]?iiid. (Sonderlandet) justified the hope that the fisheries on the 

 west coast would also prove successful, and as the Loffoden fisheries 

 had proved an entire failure, people began to look joyfuUj' forward to 

 high klip-fish prices, which would, to some extent, make up for the loss 

 occasioned by the circumstance that the commercial treaty with Spain 

 had not been concluded. 



The fishermen therefore did not allow themselves to become discour- 

 aged by a rather unfavorable beginning, as there were frequent storms 

 during May. Whenev^er there was good weather for fishing, it could 

 readily be seen that there were plenty of fish, but, strange to say, as 

 the season advanced, as June passed, and July began, the fish appeared 

 less and less plenty at the regular fishing-places, and this in spite of the 

 most favorable weather. The great expectations were gradually disap- 

 pointed, and pebple began to sigh for a little of the wind which, in the 

 beginning of the season, had interfered with the fisheries. Everybody 

 seemed anxious to go to new fishing-places, for the fish surely must be 

 somewhere or other, and all that had to be done was to search for them. 

 As soon as a little breeze sprung up people became excited, and fishing- 

 vessels fully equipped for the fisheries could every now and then be 

 seen at the fishing-places. It was of course to be expected that many, 

 especially new beginners, under circumstances which demand a good 

 deal of a genuine fisherman's patience, should lose much time in a 

 fruitless chase after fish, but then no experience was ever gained with- 

 out paying it. 



The cod fisheries on the western banks in 1883 must, on the whole, be 

 considered as poor and below those of an average year. The long-line 

 fisheries in the eastern fiords did not fare much better. As regards 

 numbers the results were satisfactory, but the fish were so exceedingly 

 small that the total quantity was not large, and the prices, more- 



*Torske fiskeriet red Island i 1883. From the Natioiialtidende, Copenhagen, February 

 9, 1884. Tranelated from the Danish by Herman Jacobson. 



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