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

districts are rounded sums). However, it does appear that the number of
participants in the herring fisheries at the core of the fiord (Nibe-Sebber)
was no more than a few hundred and therefore the majority of fishermen
were located on the open coast (between the western mouth of the
Limfiord and the Skaw). The largest Danish fishing settlement was
Skagen which had about 400 persons participating in the fisheries plus
children. On the coast of Thy there were also several hundred fishermen,
and we know that cod fishing was increasing from this part of the coast
(possibly the only place in Denmark to experience a real expansion in
fisheries in the latter half of the eighteenth century). The other regions of
importance were West Jutland (Ribe) and (North) Zealand. 354
While the Danish government had little or no interest in the
development of the home fisheries, it took some far-reaching initiatives
towards the fisheries in Norway and in the North Atlantic dependencies
of Iceland and Greenland. A few Danish fishermen were involved in
these operations and much of the capital came from merchants and
noblemen based in Copenhagen and Altona. However, the longterm
effects on the Danish fisheries proper were negligible. 355
THE ORGANISATION OF A DANISH FISH MARKET
AND THE GROWTH OF BALTIC POUND NETTING
In the next hundred years there was some growth in the fisheries. Table 4
indicates the regional number of fisher families in 1873 as recorded in
the first systematic effort to describe the fishing industry statistically (as
a preparatory to the 1888 Fisheries Law). In 1771 the male fisher
population had accounted for around 2% of adult males; by 1873 the
figure had increased slightly to around 2.5%. Shipping had continued to
absorb an increasing part of the maritime population. More importantly,
the regional distribution of the fisheries had changed markedly. North
Jutland was still in the lead, but now accounted for only a third of the
total fishing population. West Jutland was similarly declining. No doubt
the reason was that in spite of a few remarkable attempts at modernising
the fisheries on a foreign pattern, there had been little change in fishing
technology, which was still based on long-lining and ground-seining for
cod and plaice. Surprisingly, the growth areas were to be found in the
Baltic areas of the Kingdom, in Fyn (Funen), South Zealand and
354 Holm, Kystfolk.
355 Poul Holm, ‘European and Native Ways’.
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