Translation Series No.1211

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possible to begin with putting out nets. After about 12 hours the gear
was on board again the next morning.and had caught on an average 130 salmon
per 100 nets. About a further 12 hours later the driftnets were in the water
again and yielded until the next morning 40 salmon per 100 nets. The first
travelling salmon were swimming in large numbers across the fished area
at the earliest on the evening of February 28 and at the latest around
midnight. The swarm may also have persisted during the day on March 1. The
number of fish, however, did decline, because on the next morning only 40
salmon were caught per 100 nets. On March 2 the swarm had definetely passed,
because the catch during the following night yielded only 5 salmon per 100
nets. In its longitudinal grouping the swarm had such a shape that the
salmon were concentrated most densiely at its front in the direction of
travel.
Let us also attempt to learn something about its lateral com-
position. The catch of 130 salmon per 100 nets or of almost 1500 fish per
1 km 2 of fished area constitutes a rare event in salmon fishery. It leads, •
however, easily to the unwarranted conception that the salmon had travelled
in a very dense swarm. The best catches, however, brought only 1.7 to 2.0
salmon per net, the emallest 0.2 to 0.4 fish. This means that the fish were
caught by the nets in such a manner that they were at a least distance of
on an average 12 to 14 m and at a greatest distance of 60 to 120 m from
one another. We cannot assume that the fish had been swimming in a line
[P. 29 0 ]
and so got caught simultaneously. That means that the salmon were swimming
in the water at inter -ials of more thenan average of 12 m. On the other
hand.one cannot reckon that all fish were caught that encountered a fleet
of nets. Thus there were more fish present than were caught and they must
have been travelling closer together.