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

sustain profits partly because of the small population and partly because
of a large supply from the ordinary domestic fishing industry. Norwegian
trawling companies therefore primarily had to base their business on
exports. But this was difficult indeed in the fresh fish market. Newly
established and economically weak, such firms had to compete with big
English and German trawling companies in their home markets.
After 1933, however, the first successful Norwegian large-scale
steam trawling companies were established. The main change compared
to earlier failures was a shift in production strategy from fresh fish to
salting the fish at sea. The dried and salted fish industry onshore stood
behind these investments, and in 1936 Norway had a fleet of 11
large-scale steam trawlers. One can talk about a kind of vertical
combination in this case, between the fishing, production and export
sectors of the fishing industry.
But successful investment in large-scale steam trawling in the
Norwegian saltfish production and trade soon made the alarm bells ring
among the traditional small-scale fishermen. The alarm bells were also
set off in the political system, resulting in the Trawler Acts of 1936 and
1939. These acts made an increase in the number of Norwegian trawlers
impossible and laid strict regulations as to the use of the existing ones.
Small-scale fishermen partly resisted the trawlers because they
regarded them as a threat to their traditional way of life and to the fish
stocks. But the main argument in the thirties both for this small-scale
resistance and for the legislator was the current economic situation. The
fisheries, like the rest of the economy, were in a period of great
depression, with decreased demand and low prices. A transition from the
traditional fisheries to the more effective big trawlers would in this
situation lead to unemployment for many fishermen. After World War II
the situation changed, with work being a limited factor, combined with a
high demand for fish in the markets. The restrictions in Norwegian
trawling were modified, although many small-scale fishermen continued
to fight against them. Even today the trawl net is under debate, but now
the struggle is mainly concentrated on the question of trawling and its
impact on the diminishing stocks of fish.
In general, the technological modernization process of the fishing
industry has made possible an enormous increase in catching capacity
and effectiveness. 298 While Norway had c100,000 fishermen at the turn
298 Pharo 1983, 71f.
164