Coast, sea and politics

The fleet of small fishing boats in the Lofoten, 1947. Into the 1950s Norwegian fisheries were dominated by small and medium-sized boats, owned by the fishermen themselves. Photo: Lundqvist. The Lofoten Museum.
The fleet of small fishing boats in the Lofoten, 1947. Into the 1950s Norwegian fisheries were dominated by small and medium-sized boats, owned by the fishermen themselves. Photo: Lundqvist. The Lofoten Museum.

The relatively even structure in the fishing industry has also been important for the continuing political process of democratization. Farmers had been actively drawn into the national political system as early as 1814, but workers and fishermen had to wait their turn until the 20th century. To be sure there was never a "Fishermen’s Party" corresponding to the Agrarian Party (Farmers’ Party) from 1920, but questions relating to fisheries were nevertheless an important basis for political mobilization.

The first parliamentary deputies from the Labour Party (or Workers’ Party) were elected in 1903 in the northern counties of Troms and Finnmark partly as a reaction to the growing concentration of capital in the industry. The special challenges of the coast over the ensuing 50 years were also a significant force for mobilization and stabilization, both regionally and nationally.

It is against this background that one must view the government’s engagement in industrial and district politics to keep the fishing industry open for as many as possible. This was why the more efficient trawl fisheries were subject to tight restrictions, especially in the first half of the 20th century. The technological modernization of the Norwegian fishing fleet occurred on the fishermen’s terms to a much greater extent than was the case in many other coastal nations, such as Great Britain and Iceland, where a considerable part of the catch was taken by trawlers.

To maintain coastal settlements it was for a long time desirable to have more fishermen than strictly speaking were necessary in order to have an economic activity that could be combined with the small-scale farming that was so widespread in the outer reaches of Western Norway and Northern Norway (Nord-Norge). The special structure and social role of the fisheries industry contributed to the development, in the wake of the long-lasting interwar economic crisis, of a statutory complicated regulatory system that gave the fishermen’s own sales organization a monopoly on first-hand sales of all types of fish, herring, and shellfish.

The regulation, which is still in force, is unique to Norway. The same applies to the legal prohibition against anyone owning a fishing boat other than active or formerly active fishermen – the socalled Participants’ Law (Deltakerloven).


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