The age of rowing boat

Increased importance of fisheries

There is little doubt that during the latter half of the 12^th century, and during the entire 13^th century, the importance of fisheries in the Icelandic economy and society increased. This was above all caused by growing domestic demand, but probably also by demand from abroad. Evidence of fish export from Iceland before 1300 is indeed scanty and unreliable, but the few sources available certainly indicate that some dried fish (stockfish) was exported during the 12^th and the 13^th centuries, and that this export was growing.

At this time Iceland’s foreign trade was mainly with the city of Bergen in Norway. Bergen was the stapula for Norwegian trade in stockfish and Norwegian fishing farmers and merchants sometimes had difficulty in supplying an ever increasing demand for this commodity – mostly from Hanseatic merchants. Consequently, it must be considered likely that Bergen merchants sailing for Iceland wanted to purchase stockfish there. In Bergen it was a valuable commodity and in much higher demand than any other Icelandic export article.

The growing demand for fish in the 12^th and 13^th centuries resulted in a long lasting structural change in Icelandic fisheries, which at this time assumed a form that persisted throughout the age of rowing boats, and in some instances into the 1980´s. From now on the shoals of fish, that arrived on banks off the south shore to spawn during the early months of the year, and then proceeded north along the west coast in search of food, decided the fishing seasons. Fishing became primarily a winter activity (although spring and summer fisheries for home consumption were always conducted on a small scale). Then the fishing boats became bigger and in most fishing regions 6-, 8-, 10- and even 12-oarings were the most common fishing vessels. The main fishing season was from late January until early May, and it was at this time that the southern and western parts of the country, from the Vestmanna Islands in the southeast to Hornstrandir in the northwest, became the predominant fishing regions.

The structural change in fisheries, which apparently began to take shape by the mid-twelfth century, was completed around 1300. Then we see the beginnings of a period which has sometimes been termed as the “Fishing Age” in Icelandic economic history, as compared to the “Agricultural Age” of former centuries. In the first half of the 20^th century scholars were of the opinion that the “Fishing Age” lasted until about the mid-16^th century, but as the importance of fisheries in the national economy increased as time went, it seems more logical to extend the “Fishing Age” at least until the end of the Rowing boat age, and even into the late 20^th century.

Jón Þ. Þór - University of Akureyri