73G • REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [8] 



these, but also of the -great North Sea herring fisheries, with the view to 

 throw more light on many a fact in natural history and political econo- 

 my, which is of importance in the definite solution of the great herring 

 problem. These studies should, however, be continued in foreign libra- 

 ries and archives, before it is possible to obtain sufficient material for 

 producing a work which will materially benefit science and the public. 

 I shall, however, give a brief review of the more important points in my 

 observations, so far as they have been published. 



As I have already stated above, I have succeeded in showing the 

 probability that the Bohuslan herring periods form an entirely regular 

 series, which can be traced, though not in all cases with absolute cer- 

 tainty, for nine centuries. Formerly all this was a matter of mere sup- 

 position, but I succeeded in furnishing undoubted proof of the herring 

 period during the fifteenth century by the old document of June 22, 

 1496, relative to the Vinga coast and its allegiance to Sweden and ISTes- 

 tergotland. The proof which Asel Boeck produces for herring fisheries 

 on the coast of Bohuslan during the fifteenth century is a bull of Pope 

 Nicholas V, dated July 15, 1453, relative to the nobility's refusing to 

 pay the tithes of fish ; but this bull may refer to the Norwegian coast 

 as well as to the Swedish coast. Still less importance can be attached 

 to Boeck's supposition, that a legend mentioned by Peder Clausson Friis 

 of herring fisheries which had been disturbed by sorcery refers, to the 

 herring period of the fifteenth century. 



I have also shown that the herring period mentioned by Boeck, as 

 having taken place between 1260 and 1340, and given by him as a proof > 

 that the Bohuslan herring fisherijes and the Norwegian spring herring 

 fisheries took place about the same tim e, did not take place at that time. 

 It is hardly credible that fisheries which commenced in 1260 should 

 within a few years have developed to such a degree as to cause the isl- 

 ands on the coast of Bohuslan to be cultivated. King Hakon the Old 

 died during an expedition to Scotland in 1263, and the improvements 

 on the coast of Bohuslan for which he is praised in the Sagas, and which 

 seem to point to rich herring fisheries, could hardly have been made 

 during the last years of the old king's life, which were greatly dis- 

 turbed by wars. There is, therefore, no reason to suppose that there 

 were rich herring fisheries on th« coast of Bohuslan during the thirteeenth 

 century, but it is certain that such fisheries took place on the Bohus- 

 lan coast in the beginning of the fourteenth century, at the same time 

 when it appears that but few herring came to the coast of Norway. 

 The fisheries during the reign of King Hakon the ,01d, referred to by 

 Boeck, probably took place during the first half of the thirteenth cen- 

 tury, so that we would get two herring periods instead of one. For the 

 same reasons that Friis, Holmberg, Boeck and others have supposed 

 that herring fisheries took place during the reign of Hakon the Old, we 

 may suppose that such fisheries took place during the reign of Sigurd 

 Jorsalafar. Taking the herring periods, which are well established, 



