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

Little has sofar been written on the history of marine biological
research in Iceland but an excellent survey is to be found in J. Jónsson’s,
Hafrannsóknir við Ísland. 15
III. Trawling
Strange as it may seem, only two scholarly books have so far been
published on the history of Icelandic trawling business. The first is H.
Þorleifsson’s study of Icelandic trawler operation from its beginning in
1905 until 1917. 16 The book starts with a short survey of the first British
and German attempts at trawl fishing off Iceland and Danish efforts to
operate trawlers out of Icelandic ports around the turn of the twentieth
century. Then the author proceeds to his main subject and covers the
beginnings of Icelandic trawler operation and analyses its development
down to 1917 when a considerable part of the Icelandic trawler fleet was
sold abroad. There are interesting sections on Icelandic attitudes towards
trawling at the beginning of the twentieth century as well as on catches,
fishing grounds, trawler companies, legislation, territorial waters and the
life and work of the first trawlermen. The book contains a good
bibliography and an English summary.
The second book was published in 1991 and covers the period
1945-1970. 17 Immediately after the Second World War a programme
designed to rebuild the country’s economy was launched by the Icelandic
government. The renovation of the fishing fleet was a part of this
programme and, consequently, 45 new trawlers were built during the
next eight years. The operation of the new vessels was, however, not as
successful as expected, and soon after 1950 trawler operation began to
decline. By 1970 only some 20 trawlers were working out of Iceland, all
of them old and decaying. This book is a good survey of the subject,
containing many tables and diagrams, an extensive bibliography and a
detailed English summary.
The history of Icelandic trawling during the inter-war years has not
been as well covered as that of the period before the First World War and
the post war years. The subject is, indeed, discussed in several
biographies relating to the period but only one scholarly article discusses
15 J. Jónsson, Hafrannsóknir við Ísland I-II.
16 H. Þorleifsson, Saga íslenzkrar togaraútgerðar fram til 1917.
17 Þ. Óskarsson, Íslensk togaraútgerð 1945-1970.
18