Freshwater Fishing Strategies in Early Modern Sami Households

• Main Authors: Larsson, Jesper, Päiviö Sjaunja, Eva-Lotta
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: History; Ethnology; Cultural Studies; Lule Lappmark; Arctic; Arctic Anthropology; sami
• Online Access: https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/24210/; https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/24210/1/larsson_j_et_al_210531.pdf

Fish were absolutely necessary for survival for many households in preindustrial societies. Because fishing waters are considered a common-pool resource, it is difficult to exclude users, and the catch is subtractable. To learn what strategies were in place to avoid fish-stock depletion and secure continuous harvests, we investigated how Indigenous Sami households in Lule lappmark, Sweden, used low-productive freshwaters between 1660 and 1780. Our aim is to show how they conducted fishing and how it was linked to rules for fishing. Our sources are contemporary 17th- and 18th-century accounts and local court rulings. Rules for fishing were developed in a self-governance context. Users and fishing areas were well defined, and users often had exclusive rights to fish. Inheritance was important but not a sufficient prerequisite to obtain access. Our research covers a period during which abundant but low-yield fishing waters per household declined, making it more difficult to survive.