Farmers at Sea: A Study of Fishermen in North Norway, 1801-1920

This investigation encompasses three coastal communities in North Norway. They are all associated to varying degrees with the cod fisheries in the Lofoten Islands, and comparisons among them reveal how this fishing created, various types of household organization. However, difficulties arise because...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Family History
Main Author: Dyrvik, Ståle
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publications 1993
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/036319909301800404
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/036319909301800404
Description
Summary:This investigation encompasses three coastal communities in North Norway. They are all associated to varying degrees with the cod fisheries in the Lofoten Islands, and comparisons among them reveal how this fishing created, various types of household organization. However, difficulties arise because it is not the fisherman, but rather the fisherman-farmer that is typical in the region. Concealed in this combination of livelihoods is a life-cycle pattern: youths participated very actively in fishing, adults less so and the elderly hardly at all. The households of the traditional full-time fishermen were small and simple in structure. The households of fishermen-farmers were larger and more complex. The organization of labor in the fisheries cut across household boundaries. Only during the final decade of the period investigated are full-time fishermen distinguishable to any significant degree in the three local communities. At the same time differences in household structure begin to rapidly level out.