58 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



amounted in value to somewhat under ;^400,ooo. The 

 herring fishery of France reaUzed in 1866 a little over 

 7,000,000 francs; in 1873 it reached nearly 9,500,000 francs. 



The Norway Herring Fishery. — The herring is found 

 from Mandal, on the extreme south of Norway, to the 

 North Cape. They seem to live in the deep submarine 

 valley between the 47th and 67th degrees of latitude; 

 that is, from about the English Channel on the south, to 

 the North Cape at the extreme north of Norway. It 

 approaches the shore when about to spawn. They 

 abandon water which has not at least the temperature 

 of 4° C. or 40° F., either because this temperature is 

 disagreeable to them, or they do not find suitable food. 

 From some unknown cause, the localities where they pre- 

 sent themselves vary each year. The fishermen begin to 

 take a few spring herrings towards the end of March, 

 which are very thin, but improve in July and August. 

 The winter herrings are fished between 15th January and 

 15th March. About 1,000,000 barrels are annually pro- 

 cured, of which a considerable portion finds its way to 

 Great Britain, and the rest go to Sweden and the Baltic 

 ports. 



The North American Fishery. — The common American 

 herring {Clupea elongata, Storer) is amongst the most 

 valuable of food fishes. The habits, haunts, and seasons 

 of the herring are matters of curious inquiry. It seems, 

 however, now to be well established that the only migra- 

 tion of the herring is from the deep seas to the shores at 

 the spawning season, and from the shore to the deep seas 

 when this is over. 



As early as March herrings are taken in nets on the 

 coast, but the fish are so straggling and the seas so 

 boisterous, that, except for bait, fishing does not commence 



