Innovation in Times of Crisis. The Western Limfjord: Sjægts and Danish Seine (original) (raw)
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Technology Transfer and Social Setting: The Experience of Danish Steam Trawlers in the North Sea and off Iceland, 1879-1903 in Holm, P., Janzen, O., & Thór, J. (eds.), Northern Seas yearbook 1996, Esbjerg, Fiskeri- og Søfartsmuseet, 1996, pp113 - 157, 1996
At the end of the last century, steam power came into use in British trawlers. Steam trawlers were extraordinarily effective and much admired abroad, also in Denmark, where they were seen as the fishing vessels of the future. At the same time, however, the ships were expensive to run, and called for massive financial backing. This article is the story of how a number of Danish shipowners and naval officers attempted to emulate the British model. Their aim was indeed to make money, but at the same time they maintained that they were serving the nation by training seamen for the navy, and by showing the Danish flag at sea, especially off the then Danish territory of Iceland. At their disposal they had large amounts of private and state capital, and the fiasco which resulted left its mark not only on the future of Danish fisheries, but also on the attitude adopted by the financial world towards investments in fishing, and indeed laid the basis for official Danish fishery policies of this century. The 1890s was a decade of technological breakthrough in the fisheries, marked by innovations such as otter trawling, adaptation of steam and kerosene engine propulsion, mechanical winches, etc. The major investments in Danish Icelandic fisheries initiated a period of remarkable technological progress, which was to be of momentous importance for the development of the fishing fleets of the twentieth century. Paradoxically, the experiment in large-scale fishing was to stimulate a growth in artisanal fishing methods.
Danish Maritime History 1976-1992. A review
A thematical review of published research 1976-1992. From 1976 to 1994 Danish maritime history experienced a period of expansion previously unmatched in terms of productivity and breadth.
Journal for the History of Environment and Society, 2022
This article presents an assessment of nineteenth century socio-natural transformations in the Limfjord region of northwest Denmark in light of the dramatic impact of several storm surges. The 1825storm surge breached the narrow isthmus previously separating the North Sea from the brackish Limfjord, while later storm surges affected both the shore andthe fjord. The consequences of particular historical events highlight the value of combining the impact of natural hazards at the North Sea shoreline, with socio-economic developments in the hinterland as well as what unfolded beneath the surface. Inspired by contemporary disaster history the first section discusses the immediate and intermediate floodresponses. The second section focuses on the development of infrastructure, trade and commerce in the face of a changing natural environment. Enthused by marine environmental history, the third section revolves around the changing connectivity between humans and life in the sea providing anassessment of local fisheries and the changing marine ecosystem in the Limfjord. The multitude of socio-natural transformation processes shows how sudden events such as storm surges can reverberate for several decades in constant interaction with underlying structural socio-natural developments, moving at a pace unrecognized in their own era.
The development of fisheries at Bornholm, Denmark (Baltic Sea) during 1880s–1914
Fisheries Research, 2007
For centuries the abundance of fish in the Baltic Sea has had an important role in the economy of Bornholm, Denmark. This study examines the development of Bornholm fisheries between approximately 1880s and 1914 on the basis of the first officially recorded Danish fisheries data. Several species were caught, but prior to 1914 especially herring, salmon and cod were economically most important. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the catch composition changed fundamentally due to complex interactions between biological, technological and economical factors. During the late 19th century the catches of herring increased, while the catches of salmon and cod decreased. This development coincided with the introduction of new technologies and fishing practices, including motorization of fishing vessels and the exploitation of herring in previously unexploited areas (i.e., expansion of fishing areas). In addition, the salmon fishery diminished after the introduction of driftnets, which caught large numbers of small salmon. The high catches of small salmon, in combination with other factors, probably contributed to the decline in catches of larger salmon. Each of the fisheries for the three species required different types of vessels and gear, and when catches began to drop in the salmon fishery, Bornholm fishermen were faced with two options. They could either specialise in the growing herring fishery, thereby hoping to maintain their income level, or they could pursue a strategy of risk minimization, by acquiring an income outside the fishing industry, while continuing to work part-time in the salmon and cod fisheries. This dual tendency was intensified further as marine engines and new types of vessels were introduced, raising the costs of fishing.
Fisheries Research, 2007
This investigation reconstructs the development of major fisheries for herring, eel and whitefish in the Limfjord estuary, Denmark ca. 1667-1860, and then evaluates how their long-term dynamics have been influenced by some key fishery and environmental developments. The commercially most important fishery was for herring, Clupea harengus, which spawned in the Limfjord. This fishery underwent large changes in these centuries. High landings occurred in two periods in the early 18th and again in the early 19th centuries, when 4000-8000 metric tonnes were caught annually. In 1830, the fishery collapsed and landings were <1000 tonnes until the 1910s. Even during the 20th century using modern fishing techniques, the herring fishery never exceeded 7000 tonnes. The collapse was most likely due to unsustainable fishing practices (direct impacts on adults, juveniles, larvae and eggs). The second most important fishery of the Limfjord was the eel fishery. Eel, Anguilla anguilla, seems to have fled the fjord after a winter storm in 1825 broke the narrow Agger Tange isthmus which used to separate the Limfjord from the North Sea, and permanently increased the salinity in the western part of the Limfjord from 8 psu to 33 psu. The, so-called pulse seine fishery for eel declined rapidly following the salt water intrusion, and the population needed at least one to two generations to even partly recover. One possible technological reason for the recovery of the fishery was the 1848 invention of a new type of gear in the Limfjord which today is known as the Danish seine. However, the commercial eel fishery in Limfjord ceased by the 1980s coincident with the overall decline in European eel populations. The third fishery analyzed is the fishery for common whitefish, Coregonus lavaretus. A local population formed the basis of a substantial seasonal fishery, but the whitefish did not survive the salinity obstacle presented by the salt water intrusion in 1825. This study documents both the effects of fishing and environmental variability on collapses of different Limfjord fish species.
Boyce, G., & Gorski, R. , Resources and Infrastructures in the Maritime Economy, 1500-2000, St. John's, Newfoundland, International Maritime Economic History Association, 2002, pp 63 - 82
Historians of the Danish economy usually emphasise the importance of agriculture since Neolithic times. Evidence put forward in this paper suggests that a revision of this perception is needed. The maritime component of the economy dominated medieval exports, and while the seventeenth century saw a decline in maritime activities, the eighteenth century was associated with a resurgence of shipping in particular. This overview looks first at natural resources, population and business statistics, and then goes on to present an historical overview on the development of the main maritime industries, fisheries and shipping, as well as other coastal economic activities in order to understand the relationship between settlement and economic activity. The outcome of this research is a fuller picture of the maritime population and activities of Denmark between 1500 and 2000.
Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology 2014; Volum 9 (1), 2014
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South Scandinavian fisheries in the sixteenth century: the Dutch connection
1996
To what extent did fishermen make contacts with each other across the North Sea in the sixteenth century? and of what kind were these contacts? This paper is especially concerned with the migration of fishermen and the transfer of technology. In particular it argues that Dutch competition had a profound influence on South Scandinavian 1 fisheries and the North European fish market. Danmark, ed. A. Pedersen et al. (1983). Ibid., Vesteuropa, Lybaek og dansk handel i senmiddelalderen. Historisk Tidsskrift 91 (1991) 361-401.