[7] THE HERRING FISHERIES OF SWEDEN. 735 



present period does not seem to sbow a regular tendency to rapidly de- 

 velop into decided auturanal fisheries, most productive on the southern 

 part of the coast, which so strongly characterized the preceding period, 

 so far as known the longest of all Bohusliin herring periods; the pres- 

 ent period also began some years after the beginning of the fifty-six 

 years' period, whilst the preceding period commenced some years^ before 

 that time. My explanation of the cause of the secular periodicity of 

 the great Bohuslan fisheries is also of great practical importance to the 

 fisheries, as it enables us to tell with a considerable degree of cer- 

 tainty when the fishing period will come to a close. It is not known 

 that any of the preceding fishing periods continued after the correspond- 

 ing period of solar spots and northern lights. 



In accordance with my view of the causes of the secular periodicity 

 of the great Bohusliiu herring fisheries, I was enabled to predict as 

 early as 1875 and 1876 that a new herring period was near at hand, 

 which prediction I based partly on the historical experience relative to 

 the return of these herring fisheries after a certain time, and partly on 

 the considerable changes in the great North Sea herring fisheries, ob- 

 served since the winter of 1860-1870, and the occurrence of sea-herring 

 in the western part of the Skagerack during the autumn of 1875. Since 

 the beginning of the present fishing period. Professor Smitt stated in 

 his report to the minister, dated April, 1878, that as early as 1876 he had 

 mentioned in the Eoyal Academy of Sciences a change in the migrations 

 of the schools of herring, caused by the circumstance that several large 

 fish of the mackerel kind, esj)eciany those known as "herring-hunters," 

 had come near the coast of Bohuslan ; and later he refers to this state- 

 ment m such manner as if he intended to say that he had predicted the 

 near approach of a new herring period. This highly improbable sup- 

 position was proved by me to be incorrect, and nothing more has been 

 heard regarding such " herring-hunters" from more southerly seas, where 

 no herring are found. Nothing of the kind is known relative to the 

 Norwegian, Scotch, Iceland, and American herring fisheries, and the 

 first fish of the kind (herring-hunters) was caught on the coast of Bo- 

 huslan, as early as 1863, therefore many years before the changes in the 

 North Sea herring fisheries referred to above took i^Iace. As fish be- 

 longing to southern seas are every now and then observed on the west 

 coast of Sweden, the occurrence of these mackerel does not justify us in 

 assuming a change in the currents of the sea; there are, moreover, cir- 

 cumstances which speak more for an increased access of northern than 

 of southern water to the waters of the Skagerack. 



2. History and statistics of the HERRiNa fisheries. 



As regards the history and statistics of the Bohuslan herring fisher- 

 ies, the result of my investigations has, so far, principally consisted in 

 the publication of brief reviews on the history of these fisheries. But 

 1 have made extensive studies for a comparative history not only of 



