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

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episode but had begun already by the end of the sixteenth century. Farther to the north in Bøvling county the fishery was not as intense (see Figure 3). In modern times, this part of the coast is the centre of a large inshore fishery on cod but the lack of intensity may be explained by the remoteness of the coast relative to the large market in Hamburg and Schleswig. The tax returns show an increased fishery in both cod and haddock/whiting in the first decades of the seventeenth century. The cod fishery was conducted from the northern parishes while the haddock/whiting fishery was carried out only by boats from the southernmost parish and may have been located in the Reef of the Horn area as was the Riberhus fishery. By the 1620s this fishery declined rapidly and was reported for the last time in 1630. The decline occurred at the same time as a new fishery on ray was conducted but this disappeared even before the end of the haddock fishery. The cod fishery was related to the ray fishery as the accounts sometimes give a combined total catch of cod and ray, and the cod fishery declined somewhat during the period of the ray fishery. A peak of the cod fishery was reached in the 1630s, and the fisheries were stable through the 1640s if we disregard the figures of 1644-45 which were influenced by a new Swedish invasion. In the 1650s the fishing effort declined. A couple of Jutland estates remain to be analysed but it is
known that by the mid-sixteenth century the total revenue of the northernmost counties of the North Sea coast Skodborg and Vandfuld counties and Harboøre amounted to 20,000 haddock and the revenue of Thisted Bispegård was 14,000 haddock. The total fisheries for the northern half of the Danish North Sea coast thus amounted to roughly half the amount of Riberhus county. We have no evidence for the Skagerrak coast but the most important fishery certainly was conducted from the town of Skagen. As citizens they were relieved of the sand toll, and hence our sources of information are meagre. We do know that in 1583 Skagen had an armed citizenry of 335 men, 1 and based on this number a guess of 4-500 active fishermen may not be wide of the mark. In comparison Riberhus county had a fishing population of around 1,200 men. 2 Skagen’s fish resources were, however, more plentiful because of the rich fishing banks around the Scaw. 1 C. Klitgaard, Skagen Bys Historie (Skagen, 1928) 36. 2 Calculated from the total of 151 boats in the estate account for 1581 at an average of eight men per boat. The average is indicated by sources cited in Kinch, Ribe Bys Historie II, 863-4.
Page 1 and 2: The Danish fisheries c1450-1800 Med
Page 3: around the Reef of the Horn for the
Page 7 and 8: caught in large numbers and then to
Page 9 and 10: The Limfjord herring was reported t
Page 11 and 12: around 50,000 barrels, peaking at 6
Page 13 and 14: on the Swedish side were probably l
Page 15 and 16: in order to take up new fisheries,
Page 17: fishery. In early March 1564 they w
Page 20 and 21: not taxed. The accounts from 1604 t
Page 22 and 23: fisheries exported little to Hambur
Page 24 and 25: notable exception to the price decl
Page 26 and 27: towns like Copenhagen, Malmø and H
Page 28 and 29: and the North Sea in the west was b
Page 30: conceivably have altered the marine

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

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