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

home market, and herring became an important object of exchange
between the coast and inland. 280
It was not until the sixteenth century that Norwegian herring became
a commodity on the international market. It had commenced in the
southwestern parts of the country in the early 1520s and moved north to
the Bergen area around 1550. But after 1570 the herring had disappeared
from West Norway again. Then in the period 1556-1590 the great herring
fisheries in Båhuslen took place. From 1614 there was a herring period at
the coast of Trøndelag (Bjugn-Stjørna), ending in 1641. And in the
second half of the century the herring returned again to the coasts of
West Norway. 281
In the 1600s the annual export volume was about 25,000 barrels. In
the 1700s there was a very large increase in the average figure to about
250,000 barrels a year. This was caused by the boom in the herring
fisheries especially in the period 1740-60. 282 But another important
factor was the new organization of the herring production and trade. As
compared with stockfish production, the production of herring was more
capital intensive, as salt and barrels had to be provided. 283 It could not be
done by the fishermen themselves, but had to be organized by merchants,
and in the eighteenth century the class of native merchants was
developing rapidly in Norway. The basis was the merchants of the old
towns of Bergen and Trondheim, but a merchant class developed also in
Stavanger, Kristiansund and Ålesund. After 1760, and especially after
1780, the herring disappeared again, not returning until 1808. But after
then there was a strong resurgence in the herring fisheries, increasing the
annual export volume to 1.2 million barrels a year. 284
Dried salt cod (klipfish)
The negative situation in the cod fisheries seems to have ended around
1730. In this decade there was a marked increase in output in the
southern part of the codfishing area—that is Møre and Trøndelag. The
rise came some decades later in the north—in Lofoten from the 1760s. At
the end of the century cod fishing was greatly reduced in the south again,
280 Nedkvitne 1988: 470-504.
281 Nedkvitne 1988: 473-74.
282 Nedkvitne 1988: 475-6.
283 Nedkvitne 1988: 477-87.
284 Nedkvitne 1988: 470.
156