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

from the fish trade to concentrate on agricultural products, thus causing a
structural barrier to inhibit future fishing. 340 Again this is a field in need
of further research.
TWO CENTURIES OF STAGNATION, 1650-1850
There is even less historical analysis of the Danish fisheries in the next
two centuries, although the source material is better. The royal cadasters
of 1664 and 1688 do contain evidence on the fisheries, but these sources
have not been systematically tapped. In the eighteenth century, various
Financial Committees collected information on the fisheries, but there
has been no systematic attempt to use this material. 341 Further, the
Copenhagen prices for foodstuffs, which are published in a readily
accessible form, contain invaluable evidence for fish prices from the
1720s onwards. 342 In addition we can draw on customs accounts which,
though very incomplete, offer interesting glimpses into the fish trade.
The only evidence for sustained high catches is from the Limfiord
where exports reached high points in the 1650s and 1750s of around
50,000 barrels. In most years, exports were very much lower (table 2).
The Limfiord herring was important to the Danish economy, more
extensive even than the West Norwegian herring exports which reached
a high of 18,000 barrels in 1642. 343 More than half the exports went to
Norway in the seventeenth century. 344 The stock of herring in the
Limfiord seems to have followed 15-20 year cycles. After the good years
at the beginning of the century, by 1626 there were 72 deserted houses in
the main fishing town of Nibe out of a total of 200 houses. In the 1640s
340 This is a line of thinking reflected in the writings of Lybecker, the most knowledgable
Danish analyst of the fishing industry in the eighteenth century. In a report to Chancellor
Oeder in 1771 (see the following footnote) he observed that the lack of fishermen was a
structural impediment to the resurgence of the fisheries, as a few fishermen would have
difficulty in locating the shoals and therefore did not benefit from the lack of
competition. Likewise modern fishing practices favour the collaborative efforts of
fishermen rather than the individualist who fishes in the dark.
341 For the purpose of this paper I have had access to Holger Rasmussen’s transcript of
the reports to secretary of state G. F. C. Oeder in 1771, (Danish National Archives, R.K.
C.A.a.V) deposited with the Fiskeri- og Søfartsmuseet, Esbjerg.
342 Friis & Glamann, A History of Prices and Wages.
343 K. Lunden, Fisket og norsk økonomi på 1500- og 1600-tallet. Heimen 17 (1976)
147-8.
344 Poulsen, Aalborg Bys Historie III, 251
193