5,20 THE SHARK FISHERIES OF NORWAY. 
southern part of the country which it deserves, not from the scarcity of 
fish, but the deficiency of appliances and absence of that experience 
which is considered necessary to success. A prevailing opinion, how- 
ever, exists that, if properly prosecuted, it would become equally as 
lucrative in the south as it has proved to be in the north. 
Formerly it was exclusively confined to the immediate vicinity of 
the coast, but of late has been more specially and lucratively prosecuted 
on the banks, commencing in about latitude 68° to the North Cape, 
and between that and Cherry Island. The banks are not quite con- 
tinuous, as occasional breaks or deeps are met with, as well here as 
further south. These are supposed to be valleys or lifts, like the 
fissures on the mainland, which now form the deep fiords, and that the 
banks are simply continuations of the mountain ridges or spurs of the 
same. The vessels employed on this fishery generally range from 
twenty-five to thirty-five tons, manned with a crew of six men. They 
lie at anchor on the banks, with 150 to 200 fathoms water, by a grap- 
nel weighing about two cwt., with a warp about 300 fathoms in length, 
and from four to five inches in circumference. 
On the approach of bad weather this warp or line is run up by 
means of a double purchase, and the vessel put under ea=y canvas. It 
is but seldom they are compelled to seek harbour from stress of weather 
during the fishing season. 
The warps are occasionally broken, but this is attributed more to the 
unevenness of the ground than to inclemency of the weather. 
A box perforated with holes, or a canvas bag containing the residiuni 
or refuse blubber, after the oil has been extracted by boiling, is 
attached to the line not far from the bottom, near the grapnel ; glo- 
bules of oil are found to ooze out, or to percolate through the holes or 
bag, and to float away in a continuous stream, serving as a decoy, in a 
similar manner as the cod-roes are applied in Fiance, where they are 
thrown into the sea as ground-bait to attract the sardines. 
Led by this stream the sharks are guided to the main bait, which is 
attached to a thin iron chain, of from otie to two fathoms in length. 
This is fastened to aline of about the thickness of the stem of a common 
tobacco-pipe. At the end of the chain the hook is fastened, which is 
usually of the size of a salmon-gaff, and is baited with some kind offish, 
or, what is preferable, about a pound of seal-blubber. 
The seals from which this blubber is taken are generally caught at 
Spitzbergen, and there salted fresh. No kind cf bait appears so effica- 
cious or so attractive as this, and it throws off readily its fatty particles, 
which, being carried to a considerable distance, form a trail to the 
bait, which the fish greedily take, if of blubber, but it has been observed 
not so readily if the blubber is at all rancid. 
Five barrels of blubber is considered necessary for the season, and 
appears to be the average quantity used by each vessel. 
