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

even more marked for the ordinary Faroese family than depicted in the
figures. 128
After the turn of the century the sea temperature in West Greenlandic
waters had risen, causing a decrease in the seal population. Consequently
the traditional seal-hunting economy of the Greenlanders declined, and
at the same time the quantity and quality of the cod rose dramatically.
The Greenlandic stock of cod seems to have migrated from Icelandic
waters. In 1917 the cod appeared in quantity at Frederikshåb (Paamiut),
in 1922 at Sukkertoppen (Maniitsoq) and in 1928 at Disko Island
(Qeqertarsuaq). The cod did not come farther north, as the map (p. 62)
shows. A transition from the traditional Greenlandic hunting-economy to
a modern export-based fishery soon became a necessity. The rise in
Greenlandic fishing in home waters is shown in Figure I.
In 1908 Tjalfe, a Danish research ship, reported the possibilities of
fishing (in particular for halibut) in the Julianehåb district (Qaqorttoq). In
1910 a salting site was started (salting was done outdoors) with a Faroese
to train the Greenlandic workers. 129
In response to this the respected fishing captain, Jens Pauli
Andreasen, in the Knørrur applied for a permanent land station on Ravns
Storø (Takisup Qeqertarsua) to sustain a systematic utilization of open
sea and coastal fishing grounds. On 15 March 1910, his application was
turned down. 130
In 1914 the Faroese county council (Lagtinget) applied to the Danish
government for access to the Greenlandic waters for Faroese fishing
vessels, but the application was turned down on 5 January 1915. Only the
intake of fresh water for the Faroese vessels was allowed—but this was
no real concession since every ship in need of fresh water supply already
had that right under the 1776 charter. 131 On the Faroe Islands it was thus
common knowledge in the early 1920s that West Greenlandic waters
held increasing fishing possibilities for the Faroese fishing fleet.
As Figure I demonstrates, the Greenlandic cod fishery became of
growing importance to the local economy as sealing diminished. From
the 1920s to around 1950 about 100 salting sites for fish were established
128 Patursson, Fiskiveiði, II 343-349; see also statistics in Fiskeriberetninger 1911-1939.
129 Trap XIV, ‘Grønland’, 168 and 184. Patursson, Fiskiveiði, 258-260. Hansen and
Hermann, Fisken ved Grønland, 1953.
130 Andreasen, ‘Í Grønlandi víð “Knørri”’ 1927, 531. Rigsarkivet, Grønlands Styrelses
arkiv, grp. 51, journal 512/1926, copies of the 1910 papers as 17-i-1910 and 17-a-1910.
Cf. Spanner, Færøfiskeriet, chapter 3, endnote 1.
131 See footnote 5 and ‘Betænkning om Grønlandsfiskeriet’, Lagtingstidende 1924, 134.
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