IX.-THE GREAT BOHUSLAN HERRING-FISHERIES. 



By Axel Vilhelm Ljungman.* 



Amoug the causes which have exercised a powerful influence on the 

 material and moral well-being of the population of Bohuslan, the large 

 periodical herring-fisheries doubtless occupy a very i)rominent place. They 

 are called periodical, because, as far as known, they have only lasted from 

 twenty to eighty years, with intervals of sixty to one hundred, or of an 

 average of seventy years, when the North Sea herrings did not enter 

 the Kattegat and visit our coasts. We will, for the present, not inquire 

 into the causes of this i)henomenon, but observe what influence these 

 fisheries have had on the well-being of our country, and endeavor to 

 draw certain lessons for the future. We intend to show that these fish- 

 eries have exercised an influence not so much through the enormous 

 income derived from them as by the corruption and immorality which 

 they brought in their train, and by the sudden and radical changes which 

 they occasioned in the quiet and even development of the resources of 

 the province. 



In considering each one of the fishing-periods separately we arrive 

 at the remarkable and unexpected result that in course of time these 

 troubles rather increase than decrease. To prove this we shall give 

 a brief account of the older fisheries in chronological order, and give 

 a fuller account of the more recent fisheries. 



The oldest date we have regarding the Bohuslan herring-fisheries is 

 from the reign of Olof " tlie SainV^ (A. D. 1000-1028). The war between 

 him and Olof ^^Lap-Mng,''^ which prevented the Visigoths from drawing 

 their usual supply of herrings and salt from Bohuslan, ^ caused th'8 bold 

 utterances of Thorgny at the general assembly at Upsala in 1020. The 

 old northern sagas relate that there were considerable herring-fisheries 

 in Southern Norway, which undoubtedly means the coast of Bohuslan 

 during the reign of King Sverre, that is, during the second half of the 

 eleventh century. The data regarding the herring-fisheries which we 

 have from those remote times are, however, so incomplete and so vague 



*Xdgra ord om cle stora bohus-lcinska Sillfiskena. Af Axel Vilhelm Ljungman. Goteborg, 

 1877. Translated by Herman Jacobson. 



The province of Bohuslan has an area of 1,952 square miles and a population (De- 

 cember, 1876) of 248,024. The chief city is Gottenburg, with 70,000 inhabitants, the 

 second city of Sweden. — Translator's note. 



'It must be remembered that in 871 the Norwegian king, Harold " Raarfagre" (Fine 

 hail'), had united Bohusliin with Norway, in whose possession it remained till 1658, 

 when it was ceded to Sweden. 



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