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

and Lofoten reclaimed its pre-eminent position. From 1750 to 1800 the
total export of Norwegian cod almost doubled. In this period qualitative
changes both in the fishing and in the production process were
responsible for the growth (in contrast to the increase before 1650).
Klipfish, which for several hundred years had been produced by
Englishmen and Dutchmen, was introduced as a new export product
from Norway in the 1740s. In the 1750s klipfish was produced in most of
West Norway, and from the 1780s there was a breakthrough for this
product in North Norway as well. In the 1750s about 1/10 of the cod was
produced as klipfish, while the share had been increased to 1/4 around
1800. 285 The salt to be used in klipfish production was provided by the
same merchants who were central in the development of the herring
fisheries in the same period. It was natural for them to participate in
klipfish production as well when the cod occurred in large numbers at the
coasts of Møre and Trøndelag at the middle of the 1700s. And when
Lofoten took over towards the end of the century, the merchants of the
same southern towns began to send their ships to the north to buy the raw
fish and have it salted aboard.
Technology
The handline had dominated cod fishing all along the coast in the earlier
period. Longlines were introduced in Finnmark in the 1500s by
Englishmen and Dutchmen, and in the 1570-80s they were commonly in
use among the local fishermen. Further south, in West Norway, longlines
and nets came into use in the cod fisheries during the 1600s. They were
not only used in the inshore fisheries, but also in the open sea as
fishermen from Sunnmøre in the 1700s developed a cod fishery in the
open sea at the fishing ground called Storegga. 286
In the most important cod fishing area, Lofoten, longlines and nets
were not really introduced until the 1760s. Inventories from the early
1700s show almost a total absence of these fishing tools, while they had
become very common in the second part of the century. 287 But prolonged
conflict about the legality of nets and longlines immediately began, and
as a result their use was restricted to specific waters and specific periods
of the year.
285 Dyrvik etc. 1979: 158-9.
286 Nedkvitne 1988: 435-6.
287 Nielssen 1994b: 63.
157