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

In order to assess the magnitude of the west coast fishery, we need,
however, direct evidence for the trade. In view of the poor state of
research, any assessment must be tentative. The best available data are
the Ribe harbour dues which state that a total of 1.2 million dried fish
were exported in 1602; eight years later the figure was as high as 1.8
million. By 1640 the figure seems much reduced, probably not exceeding
350,000 fish. 321 We have no evidence for the amount of fish sold from
other towns and harbours. There is, however, no doubt about the
importance of Ribe. The town normally provided four times as many
mariners for the Danish navy as did Varde and Ringkøbing together, and
if this is anything to go by, the figure for the seaward fish trade of all
three towns may have been around 2.2 million fish in 1610. Even worse
we have no figures for the fish traded overland. In the cattle trade we
know that well over half of the cattle went over land, but this was
destined for Hamburg and Amsterdam. The fish trade was much more
related to the domestic market; in addition to the royal dues, all the towns
of the Kingdom and Slesvig-Holsten probably got their fish over land. If
the importance of the landward route was double the seaward route, total
trade was 6.6 million fish in 1610. Prices paid by the lord lieutenant’s
bailiff to fish merchants indicate a level of seven daler per thousand
dried haddock and three daler for one thousand dried plaice. Prices for
salted fish were about fifty percent higher, and cod, ray and other fish
fetched much higher prices. 322 By this time the tax on fishing operations,
known as the Sand Toll, was dominated by plaice which constituted three
quarters, while haddock was only one quarter of the total. 323 If this ratio
reflected actual fishing practise—which it should do unless there was
widespread fraud—we may estimate an average price of four daler per
thousand fish. The total value of the West Coast fisheries was therefore
some 26,400 daler in 1610.
This figure is easily compared to the herring trade; the merchant’s
price of one barrel of herring was usually around one daler, and total
output of the West Coast fishery in 1610 may thus be expressed as well
above 25,000 barrels worth of herring. About 1560, when the West
321 Kinch, Ribe Bys Historie II, 832, 837.
322 Kristensen, Gamle sydvestjyske fiskerlejer, 173.
323 Kristensen, Gamle sydvestjyske fiskerlejer, 40.
183