738 REPOKT OF COMMISSIONEE OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [10] 



by statistical data, the different economic advantages of the various 

 methods and apparatus. The same formed the obj ect of Prof. S. jSTilssou's 

 and otber prominent scientists'studieshalf a century ago. They started, 

 however, from the supposition that, as regards the method employed, the 

 herring fisheries on the south coast of Sweden coukl hardly be excelled. 

 Their ideas were very correct, however, as to the desirability of the Bo- 

 huslan people retaining their method of seine-fishing, unless they were 

 forbidden to do so ; the consequence was the prohibition of such seines for 

 the herring fisheries by paragrai)h 22 of the fishery law of 1852. Their 

 opinion that nets are absolutely preferable for the herring fisheries has 

 been refuted by me, when 1 showed that different economical and phy- 

 sical conditions may necessitate the use of different apparatus and meth- 

 ods of fishing, and that because a certain apparatus or method is the 

 best in one locality one is not justified in supxjosing that it should apply 

 to every other locality. I have furthermore called attention to the 

 enormous difference between fisheries on a large and a comparatively 

 small scale, and have shown that even fisheries of the latter kind may 

 pay in those parts of the coast of Bohuslan where, owing to the small 

 quantity of fish, the j) rices are very high. In the very beginning of my 

 labors I was enabled, guided by statistics from Scotland, to show the 

 absolute necessity of equipping large and more powerful boats aud fur- 

 nishing them with superior apparatus, if the seine fisheries in the Skag- 

 erack were to yield good results, and have pointed out this necessity in 

 my memorial to the minister dated in February, 1878. Seine fisheries 

 carried on during autumn and winterin the open sea require strong boats 

 and numerous seines, so that the quantity of fish in the various hauls 

 may make up for the naturally smaller number of chances to make hauls, 

 and that the number of these chances may be increased by the use of 

 strong boats and superior apparatus as is done by the Yarmouth fisher- 

 men and others. All this, however, requires more capital than our fish- 

 ermen can command at the present time; great herring fisheries with 

 seines cannot be developed all at once, not oidy because they require 

 much capital, but also competent men to lead the fishing expeditions, 

 and experienced sailors and fishermen. The German experiments at 

 Emdeu show how much time it takes to develop such fisheries to any 

 considerable degree of importance. 



I have never, as Professor Smitt seems to intimate, worked against 

 the introduction of seine fisheries, but all I have done was to publish 

 reports, for the benefit of the public, on the relative advantages of the 

 different kinds of apparatus, and in this connection I have pointed out 

 the facts that seine fisheries on a large scale required, not only much 

 capital, but also so large a number of fishermen, that on the coast of 

 Bohuslan we would have to , take them away from other trades ; that 

 the development of the Bohuslan fisheries, starting from the present 

 method aud aiming at such fisheries as are carried on on the northeastern 

 coast of America, would be most desirable under the existing circum- 



