46 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



must be very similar to the young North Sea herring, and the indica- 

 tions given by Mr. Cowie will therefore be of the greatest interest for 

 further investigation. 



Absenc of While, therefore, there are striking parallels between 



Dominant Year- our herring and the North Sea herring, the marked 

 Classes dominance of definite year-classes has not yet been 



established beyond doubt, and researches continued through a series 

 of years can alone demonstrate the presence, or absence, of such domin- 

 ance as Dr. Hjort found in Norway, where from 1908 to 1914, the 

 catches were composed very largely of fi«h hatched in 1904. These 

 fish, four years old, preponderated in 1908, and again, as five-, six-, 

 seven-, eight-, nine- and ten-year-olds in the years from 1909 to 1914, 

 inclusive. 



The spawning areas, the resorts of the young fish and 

 Poin^"^^ their migrations, the determination of the age and 



Awaiting composition of the local runs of herring, coastal and 



Detennination ^^^^ gg^^ ^^^^ ^jjg discovery of the ' fat ' or immature 

 though nearly adult, herring, in the vast schools in which they must 

 occur somewhere off our shores, are the points of chief practical 

 moment. Future work will afford this information and the develop- 

 ment of a vast herring industry will, in my opinion, inevitably follow 

 the acquisition of this knowledge. 



