Fishermen

With the development of the fisheries and the increased fishing effort of the Fishing Age, the number of seasonal fishing stations grew. Along the western coast, from the Vestmanna Islands in the south to Hornstrandir in the northwest, fishing boats went to sea from almost every bay and cove. The system of fishing seasons led to a major seasonal migration of fishermen for many centuries. Four to five thousand men are believed to have travelled from one region to another for the fishing seasons each year, in addition to land-based labourers and stockfish-porters. Thus an estimated 10 to 15 per cent of the population appears to have migrated for work each year and many travelled on foot from one end of the country to the other four times every year. They would leave their homes and travel to the fishing stations in late January, when many had to cross high mountains in darkness and hazardous weather conditions. They would then return at the end of the spring season, in May, and go back for the autumn season in late September, only to return home just before Christmas. This might seem a strange arrangement, but it fitted in well with the needs of a society based on both animal husbandry and fishing.

In a social order which aimed for stability in an agrarian society, Icelanders who were not farmers in their own right were compelled to bind themselves for a year at the time to work on farms. Hence few people had the freedom to travel the country in search of casual employment – for instance in the fisheries. Men were sent to sea in those seasons when their labour was not required on the land, when the fishing was normally good and conditions for fish-drying and salting were favourable.

At the seasonal fishing stations, the fishermen generally lived in shacks or booths. These were originally walls built of rock and turf, but subsequently permanent roofs were built. By the 19^th century, better-quality booths were being built. The fishermen lived in the booths between fishing trips; the catch was processed in the open air while at some fishing stations the stockfish was stored in small shacks or huts, and sometimes in naturally made caves, in order to shelter it from rain and snow.

Fishing boat owners

The major fishing-vessel owners were farmers, the king and the episcopal sees (formally the cathedrals at Hólar and Skálholt). For centuries the episcopal sees were Iceland’s most important operators of fishing boats, owning extensive property at most major fishing stations of the south and west. This ownership of property was crucial, enabling the bishops to sustain this extensive fishing industry. The operation of royally-owned fishing boats ceased shortly after the mid-18^th century and after the bishoprics of Skálholt in the south and Hólar in the north were abolished around 1800, their properties were sold off in the early 19^th century. This led to changes in ownership in the fishing industry, but change occurred in the system per se. The fisheries were now exclusively in the hands of individuals – farmers and merchants – who continued to operate the vessels in time-honoured fashion and, as before, ownership of land at the fishing stations was crucial to the operation of fishing vessels. Throughout the 19^th century the number and effort of rowing-boats grew, in spite of the advent of decked sailing vessels – a sign of a revitalized economy after the abolition of monopoly trade.

Jón Þ. Þór - University of Akureyri