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

Fisheries in Western Sweden
c1650-1950
A Short Historical, Bibliographical
and Statistical Survey
Bertil Andersson
Introduction and historical background
During the latter part of the Middle Ages and the early modern period
Sweden’s emerging great-power aspirations were almost entirely
oriented eastward towards the Baltic region. Sweden’s fishing interests
were concentrated in the Baltic and in the great lakes and rivers with
fishing largely a matter of meeting domestic demand. Around 1650 the
situation changed radically. In peace treaties with Denmark the former
Danish/Norwegian counties—Bohuslän, Halland, Skåne and
Blekinge—became Swedish territory, and new fishing possibilities were
opened for Sweden. Of great importance was the herring-fishing inside
the skerries.
The periodicity in the herring fishery has been much discussed and
many explanations have been offered from sun-spots, changes in the tide
and market conditions in Europe. Nevertheless some periods of good and
very good herring fishing can be identified: 1556-1589, 1657-1713,
1747-1808 and 1877-1896. The great herring period of the sixteenth
century created an economic boom in Bohuslän, partly due to the decline
in the Netherland’s herring fisheries in the North Sea. As a result of the
development of herring fisheries in the latter part of the eighteenth
century, a specialized class of fishermen emerged.
The fisheries in Bohuslän and the periodicity in the fishing also
affected population growth. During the latter part of the eighteenth
century the population in Bohuslän grew rapidly, the number of
fishermen rising from about 800 to more than 2,000 before declining. In
the 1880/90s the number of fishermen again exceeded the 2,000 level.
The total fishing population in the county of Göteborg och Bohus län
was 7,600 in 1870, 14,300 in 1900, 14,300 in 1930 and 13,900 in 1950.
For more figures concerning population of fishermen see the statistical
section below.
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