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

north of the latitude of the Bay of Biscay, including the North Sea, the
Davis Strait and the Arctic Sea around Svalbard / Spitsbergen. The main
emphasis was put on cod fisheries, but whaling, sealing and herring and
plaice operations were also considered. The period under review was
c1100 to 1976 – i. e. the era of almost unrestricted utilisation of the
Northern Seas. Systematic comparison and discussion of a range of
relevant issues was encouraged, with questions such as fish prices,
ecology, biological knowledge, colonial rivalries, demography and
settlement patterns afforded particular attention.
Individual contributors have treated this broad subject very
differently. This should cause no surprise given the pioneering nature of
the meeting, and the absence of an international scholarly debate which
might have served to point out fields and problems for special
comparative attention. In as much as the overviews published in this
volume represent the first easily accessible introduction to national
research in fishing history, we have no doubt that the volume will serve
to identify fields which are in need of more research and call for
international collaboration.
The reader will find a broad chronological discussion of national
fisheries in the overviews of Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Faroese,
British, and Dutch fisheries, with guidelines as to statistics and literature.
The basic approach is that of economic history, while the authors also
identify distinct national research interests. Unfortunately, it was not
possible to cover every national fishery as contributions on Canadian,
American, German, Belgian, French and other interests in the North
Atlantic could not be arranged.
The fisheries developed very differently in the Northern Seas,
dependent on a wide array of factors, most of which are discussed in
these essays. One of the defining parameters was the character of the
coast. As Jaap Bruijn and Jóan Pauli Joensen both point out, the nature of
harbours is crucial to any understanding of the basic technological
development of boat-types. Open coasts, natural ports and manmade
harbours exert a key influence on the development of flat-bottomed boats
and keel-boats, not to mention large decked vessels. A comparative study
of fishing-boat design over the past centuries is much needed.
The technology used for catching also needs comparative study. The
introduction of the longline is a case in point. While it seemed to spread
relatively rapidly from Flemish and Dutch fishermen to English and
Danish fishermen in medieval times, Norwegian, Faroese and Icelandic
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