T ie spawning migration takes place all along the coast. More
cod are therefore fished everywhere in the months of March and
April than at other times of the year. These cod are large, sex u-
ally matured fish, the so-called sea-eod or «skrei». At certain points
of the coast, sea-cod fishing was long ago carried, on more f tm
elsewhere, especially in. the Komsdal, Nordland and Tromso- counties,
and above all at the Lofoten Islands in the Nordland county.
Here, during the first few months of the year, about 40,000 men
are gathered. Of these, in 1895, 30 per cent fished with nets,
66 per cent with long-lines, and 4 per cent with hook and line.
The Lofoten fishing is carried on from several -I about 36 Ilf!
fishing stations, «fiskever», havens with the necessary buildings
along the shore. Some of these buildings are the warehouses of
the traders, some the fishermen’s' booths,' which are small, sometimes
extremely primitive houses right upon the shore, and serve
for keeping fishing-tackle in, as places for putting on bait, and
as dwelling-rooms for from 12 to 24 men. The house generally
contains only one large room, and sometimes an attic.
At one station, there may be from 3 to 4 thousand men; and
in the morning, at a given signal, a whole fleet sails or rows
out to the fishing-places, which are sometimes as much as 8 miles
from land. The vessels all make use of sails, and mosk of them
are open, without any deck. The largest, ten-oared boats, of 7 or
8 tons register, and a crew of 6 men, use lengths of net measuring
from 700 to 1300 yards. The single nets are from 27 to 33 yards
in length, and have a mesh of from 3 to 3J inches. They are
sometimes laid along the bottom, sometimes more or less near the
surface, are put out before night-fall, and drawn up again in the
morning.
Long-line fishing is carried on from somewhat smaller boats,
eight-oared, of from 3 to 3 Vs tons register, and a crew of from 3
to 5 men. The lines may be from 1600 to 2700 yards in length
with 1200—2000 hooks. Some of them are set during the day,
others at night, and they are baited with herring or cuttle-fish.
The original fishing implement is the hand line. Tor these,
small boats are used, of less than 1 ton’s register, with a crew of
2 or 3 men, who are continually moving from place to place until
they find the fish.
From 300 to 400 cod is reckoned a good day’s fishing for a
net-boat, and 200 for a long-line boat. The fishing is considered