The North Atlantic Fisheries, 1100-1976 - University of Hull

Dutch Fisheries:
An Historiographical
and Thematic Overview
Jaap R. Bruijn
For centuries the inhabitants of the coastal regions of the Netherlands
have been involved in all kinds of fisheries. The coastline stretches from
south to north along the maritime provinces of Zeeland, Holland (from
c1800 South-Holland and North-Holland), Friesland, Groningen and
five Wadden Isles. Until 1932 this coastline included the Zuyder Zee as
well. The number of natural ports, however, was small and they were
mainly located along the estuaries of the rivers Scheldt, Meuse and
Rhine. Harbours in most cases had to be dug and constructed and
required regular dredging. In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries, for instance, harbour construction took place on a vast scale. 177
It was not until the 1870s that the long coastline of Holland was breached
by two canals: the Waterway and North Sea Canal. Before then the beach
of more than 120 kilometres length was unbroken. Several small fishing
and agrarian communities were located in and behind the dunes along the
beaches. In the interior parts of Holland major cities such as Alkmaar,
Haarlem, Leiden and The Hague consumed the catches of the fishermen
in these communities. The lack of harbour facilities and the presence of
rather broad beaches resulted in fishing with flat-bottomed vessels,
stored on the sand.
Environmental circumstances thus dictated for ages a sharp division
between the types and methods of fishing based in natural and man-made
ports and those conducted from open beaches. Keel and flat-bottomed
vessels symbolized this difference. Keel ships were used for catching
herring, cod and haddock, and were operated from port cities, mainly
from Enkhuizen in the north and Brielle, Delfshaven, Rotterdam,
Vlaardingen and Maassluis in the south, and from Zierikzee and
Flushing in Zeeland. The herring fishery, officially called the “Great
177 Sigmond, Nederlandse zeehavens.
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