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

ejected. The new social and economic perspective was introduced in
Kåre Lunden’s article ‘Hanseatane og norsk økonomi i
seinmellomalderen’ (1967) and followed up in many works of local and
regional history. One of the most important works in this connection is
Lofoten og Vesterålens historie vol. 2 (1500-1700) by Kari Lindbekk.
The literature for the period after 1900 covers a great number of
themes and specialized studies, but synthesizing, more comprehensive
books like those of Nedkvitne and Solhaug are still lacking. Of the more
specialized studies many concentrate upon the fishermen’s political
efforts in organizing themselves to defend their rights against the fish
buyers, producers and exporters on the one hand and the government
administration of the sector on the other. 259
The importance of local studies must not be overlooked in the modern
period. Many of the books in the voluminous Norwegian local and
regional historical writing tradition contain a lot of material about the
fisheries. The academic standard varies and a lack of proper
documentation often makes it difficult to use the information for
scientific purposes. Absence of a comparative aspect and the national
perspective represents a problem, especially with regard to the older
books of this tradition. But the enormous detail in this literature provides
much valuable information and makes it quite clear that there are great
local variations along the Norwegian coast with regard to biological fish
resources, the employment patterns in the fishing industry, the
technological adaption, the political and organizational framework and
so on.
A special facet of this local literature, concentrating only upon the
fishing industry, are the regional fishing histories. These have been
written for a number of regions along the Norwegian coast from
Nordland county southwards, but unfortunately not yet for the important
fishing districts of Troms and Finnmark. In this regional fishing
literature academic standards vary, though some of the latest are
excellent, especially Karl Egil Johansen’s book on the fisheries of the
Hordaland and Bergen area in Western Norway 1920-1990. 260
259 Hallenstvedt & Dynna 1976, Hallenstvedt 1982, Christensen & Hallenstvedt 1990.
Christensen 1991 b gives a survey of the literature for the period after 1945. Nordstrand
1985 is a comprehensive study of Fiskeridirectoratet, the main government institution in
the sector, but this work has not been published yet.
260 Johansen 1989.
147