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

The first sign of a new Greenland policy came with a report from a joint
Danish-Greenlandic committee in 1946. It recommended a net capital
transfer as great as the whole annual budget up to then. The
recommendations were accepted by the authorities. Over a five year
period eight million kroner was to be invested in building new industries,
with a quarter going to the fisheries. On a yearly basis a two million
kroner deficit in running costs was accepted, nearly half of it to bolster
business, although virtually nothing was to go to the fisheries. This
primary sector was supposed to carry its own costs. An internal report
from the Greenland Administration revealed that during 1946-1948
600,000 kroner were invested in fishing stations and about 2 million
kroner in boats and engines for the Greenlanders. Investments outside
the fisheries added up to 13.5 million kroner, half of which was directed
to the development of weather forecast facilities. 173 The fish catches
were steadily rising although not in proportion to investment. Cod
catches rose in the period 1946-1954 from 15,000 to 19,000 tons. Still,
the fishery held its overwhelming significance, accounting for 75% of
the value of total production in the early 1950s.
The Great Leap Forward in 1950
Economically, the decisive changes in policy from 1950, called ‘The
New Order’, saw a massive enlargement of investment and income
transfer to Greenland. The trade monopoly introduced in 1721 and
restricted access to Greenland were lifted, and Danish private enterprise
was called upon to operate under state surveillance. The economic
philosophy was to let the Danish society cover the investment and the
overall public expense, while primary Greenlandic production, sealing
and fishing, was supposed to be self-sustaining. In time they were
expected to cover public expense as well. Danish private enterprise was
expected to invest in modern fish processing and to tutor the
Greenlanders in entrepreneurial techniques. Elsewhere, I have
researched private Danish interests in Greenland and found it to be very
modest, extending to only a handful of fishing cutters from Esbjerg. 174
How they operated in Greenland is only described in memoirs. 175
173 Oldendow, Knud, ‘Fremstilling af Arbejdet i Grønland, 28/6-1948’. To be found in
the parliamentary archives, Greenland Committee, box 6, II folder 9.
174 Axel Kjær Sørensen, 1984.
175 Frede Sørensen, 1952; Claus Sørensen, 1979.
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