130 THE SEA FISHERIES 



not to commence before the i6th July (old style). Herring scowtes 

 were to be of 4 tons burthen, and a weekly close time was pre- 

 scribed. Some of the clauses of the Act would seem strange to 

 modern fishermen ; " if any of the fleet do, by God's blessing, 

 meet with the scul of fish, or get good store thereof, and reveal not 

 the same to the next boat to him, so that the same might be dis- 

 covered from boat to boat, throughout the whole fleet, to the end 

 every of them might be partakers of that blessing, every one so 

 offending is to be fined 40s., besides imprisonment." The water 

 bailiff or admiral was to cause the fleet to be assembled where the 

 shoals were located, his reward for this service being " a certain 

 measure called a Kybbon full of herrings, or twelve pence in money 

 in lieu thereof." For a long time the inhabitants of the island 

 prosecuted this fishery with a view of laying in a stock of food for 

 their families in the winter, and until recently the peasantry 

 of the island were skilled in the preservation of herring. For 

 the five years preceding 1771 only 7667 barrels of salted herring 

 were exported from the island. In 1772 the Government en- 

 couraged the fishery, e.g. in the shape of cheap salt and light 

 duties, so that in the five years preceding 1783 the export of 

 herring amounted to 104,537 barrels. During this period the 

 island supplied upwards of 1800 sailors to the Navy and the 

 British Mercantile Marine.^ 



Norway 



In Norway the herring fishery consists of a summer fishing for 

 fat herring, a spring fishing for spawning herring and a winter 

 fishing for large herring (storsild). There is also a fishery in Nor- 

 wegian waters for small herring (smaasild). The North Sea and 

 Icelandic catch by Norwegian fishermen is also shown separately, 

 so there are six separate enumerations of the Norwegian herring 

 fishery in their official statistics. The quantity taken is large, and 

 the export considerable. Of recent years the Norwegians have 

 specialised in the preparation of herrings and sprats in the form of 

 the so-called delicatessen. This branch of the trade in canned 

 goods has grown by leaps and bounds ; the attention of the herring 

 trade in the British Isles should be directed to it. In 1912 the 

 leading feature in the Norwegian fishery was the enormous quantity 

 of herring put up in the form of canned goods. Between 60,000 

 and 70,000 " Maal," each of 150 litres were so prepared, practically 

 all for the export trade. The bulk of this canned herruig is spring 

 herring, which is retailed as canned " kippers." The following 



» Third Report on the State oj the British Fisheries. 1785, p. 153. 



