The Danish fisheries c.1450-1800. Medieval and early modern ...

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herring market, and by the early seventeenth century the King was able to doubt if German merchants were still making the yearly appearance on the herring market which was necessary if they wanted to keep their privileges. This was a dramatic downturn to a fishery which for a couple of centuries had been the main export commodity of Denmark. The trade was in the hands of German merchants but the fishery was mainly conducted by Danes. Unfortunately, the estate records cannot be used to reveal the size of the fishery as the German traders were exempt from the Danish authorities. However, there is evidence to indicate the size of the fishery around 1400 which has been estimated by Christensen to have amounted to a total export of 2-300,000 barrels of herring. The catches were taken not only in the Sound proper but extended into the Baltic to the island of Bornholm. We may relate the estimated catches to modern records. A standard Rostock barrel of herring weighed 117 kg including the brine. As one barrel of salt was needed for three barrels of gutted herring, 6 the net herring content was approximately 100 kg wet fish. The peak medieval export thus corresponded roughly to a catch of 30,000 tons. In addition the fishermen kept some fish for their consumption and sale. There is reason to estimate this portion at another 100,000 barrels, 7 bringing the medieval Sound fishery to a total of around 40,000 tonnes. Around 1900, before the introduction of motor boats and the trawl, catches in the Danish part of the Sound were around 8-9,000 tonnes per year. 8 Catches (submitted). 6 Kulturhistorisk Leksikon 4, 343-46. DD 4:1 nr 128. 7 According to the Modbog, the judicial code for the Scanian fish market, no fisherman was allowed to salt more than six barrels of herring to his own need, while the remaining catch should be sold fresh to the merchants. With an estimated total number of fishermen around 1400 of 17,000 men, we should add about 100.000 barrels for private consumption, making an estimated peak catch of 400,000 barrels. 8 Fiskeriberetning 1894-95, 1904-05 (København, 1895, 1905), Districts: Nordsjælland, Sydsjælland, Øresund, Lolland, Bornholm. In 1904 64,451,600 herrings were caught. If the average weight is estimated at 150 g this corresponded to 9,668 tonnes. See further L. G. Sjöstedt, Barsebäcks fiskeläge (Malmö, 1951) 87 for some practical experiments demonstrating the size and weight of the medieval herring.
on the Swedish side were probably larger, and we may therefore estimate a total catch in modern times around 20,000 tonnes. The strong medieval fishery was carried out in thousands of small boats which operated driftnets at night during two-three hectic months in the autumn. A very rough calculation indicates that the total number of fishermen employed in the fishery around 1400 may have been around 17,000 men with an additional 8,000 employed in related trades. Catches varied from year to year, and the herring almost disappeared in some years such as 1402, 1425, 1469, 1474-5. In 1494 the Danish herring exports (including the Limfjord) probably amounted to only 100,000 barrels, and the total number of fishermen had declined to around 6,000 men. In the 1520s, the Sound fisheries experienced their last period of greatness. According to the bailiff of Lübeck no fewer than 7,515 vessels with an average crew of five men, or 37,500 fishers, paid a due to sign up for the fishery. Every fisherman had to pay 240 herrings to the king, and the total revenue is stated to have been 7,703 barrels of herring. 9 A typical barrel contained 840 herring, and we may therefore calculate that the total number of fishermen was somewhat lower than the estimate above but still a staggering 26,960 men. Unfortunately, we do not know the total catches of the year but there can be no doubt that several hundred thousand barrels were produced. When in 1537 we do know the total export, the Sound herring fishery was already declining. The Danish customs officer at Falsterbo reported a catch of 96,000 barrels from this place, while total Danish herring fisheries – from the other fishing ports at the Sound and Bornholm and the Limfjord – according to his and his colleagues’ judgement amounted to around 360,000 barrels. 10 The Falsterbo figure compares favourably but not overwhelmingly so with the low catch of 60,000 9 Danske Magazin VI 1836. 10 Schäfer, Das Buch.., bilag V. See also Mikael Venge, Fra åretold til toldetat. Dansk Toldhistorie I (Viborg, 1987) 72-76.
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Page 7 and 8: caught in large numbers and then to
Page 9 and 10: The Limfjord herring was reported t
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Page 15 and 16: in order to take up new fisheries,
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