FISHERIES. 



149 



Fisheries. 



The fisheries, especially in Norway, are very productive, and, more than the 

 fertility of the soil, have tended to people the coast districts. The northern 

 regions of Finmark and Nordland would even still be completely uninhabited but 

 for the fishing fleets attracted to the neighbouring banks. 



Here the chief treasures are the cod and the herring. In the Lofoten and 

 Finmark the cod fisheries employ 8,000 craft, with 35,000 men, of whom perhaps 

 one-third are destined to watery graves. In good seasons, such as that of 1877, 

 as many as 67,000,000 cod are taken. The most frequented spots are the islet of 

 Skraavan, in the Vest-fiord, and especially the Henningsvar coast, where many 

 reefs and beaches become for the time veritable curing depots. Here every 



fig. 75. — Fisheries of Vest-fiord. 

 Scale 1 : 1,225,000. 



Dep*h undsr 140 

 Fathomfs. 



part of the animal is turned to account. Till recently the Lofoten fishers 

 took the liver only, for the sake of the oil which has acquired such importance 

 in modern pharmacy. But now, with a better knowledge of its value, they 

 either forward the fish to foreign markets, or else barter it on the spot with 

 Russian dealers in flour and woven goods. The residue of the liver, after extract- 

 ing its oil, is shipped for Trondhjem, where it is regarded as a most powerful manure. 

 The sound is sent to Havana as an article of food, and for making isinglass ; the 

 dried fish is ground to a sort of flour, which makes excellent paste ; lastly, the 

 salted roe is used as bait, and was formerly sold, especially in France, to the sardine 

 fishers. But its commercial value has of late years greatly fallen since a preference 

 has been shown for artificial roe. According to the various ways in which it 

 is cured the cod takes the names of stockfish, klepfisk, torfisk, rundfisk, or 



