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

available except for the very last decades of the nineteenth century.
However, the point should be stressed that in 1920, 20.5 per cent of the
Icelandic population was employed in fisheries and fish processing. This
percentage rose during the next decades and was 23.6 per cent in 1960.
After that it fell somewhat because of increased mechanization. 5 At the
same time the importance of fish as an export article also rose. In
1921-1925 fish products constituted 84.9 per cent of the value of
Iceland’s exports, but 92.8 per cent in 1951-1955 and 91.2 per cent in
1961-1965. 6
II. General Works
First among the general publications is L. Kristjánsson’s five-volume
work, Íslenzkir sjávarhættir. 7
In libraries this work is usually
categorized as ethnology and it contains a wealth of information on the
history of fisheries during the rowing-boat period. Although not a history
of fishing, the author covers all the main aspects of Icelandic fisheries
from the earliest times until around 1900. Among his subjects are the
rowing boat, fishing stations, fishing grounds, the fishermen and their
life, fish processing, domestic fish trade, consumption and transportation
of fish inside Iceland, the different types of fish, fishing gear, whaling,
fowling and seal hunting, shark fishing, utilization of the marine flora,
driftwood, various aspects of and customs connected with the fisheries,
etc. The work is thoroughly documented and each volume contains an
extensive bibliography and reference list. Richly illustrated with
photographs, drawings and maps, each volume is provided with a
detailed summary in English. By the same author are two articles on the
rowing-boat fishery during the ‘Little Ice Age’. 8
Another, but much shorter, general work dealing mostly with the
rowing-boat period is J. Jónsson’s survey of the development of fisheries
off Iceland from about 1300 until 1900. 9 The book is divided into three
main sections of which the first covers the fisheries undertaken by
Icelanders while the second is concerned with foreign fishing activities
5 See Thór, British Trawlers and Iceland, 1919-1976, 255 (Appendix H,1).
6 Ibid., 256 (Appendix H,2).
7 Kristjánsson, Íslenzkir sjávarhættir I-V (1980-1986).
8 Kristjánsson, ‘Þá eru komnir þrír í hlut’, ‘Sjóslysaárin miklu’.
9 Jónsson, Útgerð og aflabrögð við Ísland 1300-1900.
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