The Sea

The sea has always been a valuable resource, both for transport and for business. The rock carvings in the region tell of old traditions of halibut fishing and catching marine mammals. So do the written sources. Ottar from Hålogaland says that fishing was a Sami occupation in his time (c. 890 AD). He says that the land was uninhabited further north except by fishermen and bird catchers and hunters, and they were all Sami.

Ottar’s description captures a core of the Sami way of life. Most people engaged in a combination of industries – they adapted to the resources that nature provided. Through the ages, you find different varieties of lifestyles, and you could sometimes also alternate between being settled and nomadic. Samis on the coast often owned «sytings» reindeer (a collaboration between residents and nomads, where the residents could have their reindeer in the herd of the nomads). The reindeer-herding Sami often fished in the sea in the summer country.

Tax lists, censuses and parcels from the 17th and 18th centuries give a picture of the development of Sámi fishing. The majority of coastal Sami in our region have at this time adapted to a way of life that resembled the Norwegian fishing farmer. Probate records from the 18th century show that food chests intended for long journeys were found in almost all Sami households in Ofoten. Several Sami shifts also state cod nets and long-lines with up to 150 angles.

Home fishing has been central to Sami people along the coast up to the present day. Likewise, they have large fisheries, which are considered a traditional Sami livelihood.

The Lofoten fishery

In the 11th century, one can observe the contours of a shift in power, which also affected industry and trade. The local chieftainship – which until now had controlled the taxation and distribution of Sami fur goods – is beginning to lose ground to the king and the church. Sami groups further north in the country, and inland, continued the trade in furs and skins well into the Middle Ages. They found their markets in the East. The Samis in Southern-Troms and Northern Nordland, on the other hand, quickly linked up with the stock fish trade, which became an important regional business from the 12th-13th centuries.

With the rise of larger cities on the continent and in England, a market for dried fish from the Nordics opened up. The flow of goods between different places was professionalised, through trade groups which eventually gained a great deal of control. Lofoten became a regional hub for stockfish trade, with international trade offices in Bergen and Trondheim. The population in the north secured a stable supply of grain and other goods, while at the same time taking part in an international market with a great need for stockfish.

The Catholic Church had rules for fasting, which opened up the consumption of fish on public holidays and fasting periods where you could not otherwise eat meat. Dried fish was in great demand. The fisheries became a possible means of livelihood for all groups along the coast, and it worked well to combine with both agriculture and hunting and trapping adaptations. The sea was already an important hunting ground for Samis along the coast.

Boks-Beret (Berit who wears pants)

From the beginning of the 19th century, there are stories about Boks-Beret, an unusual lady who can nevertheless stand as an example of women’s many roles in the coastal societies of the past. Her name was Berit Paulsdatter, and she was born in Kvæfjord in the spring of 1794. Berit gave up the nomadic life and settled with her husband in Forsåmarka in Ballangen.

Along the coast, it has been common for women to also participate in fishing, but this was usually limited to home fishing. This was a necessity in order to get food for the rest of the household when the man went seasonal fishing. Berit Paulsdatter did both.

She was respected as a well-known boat captain in Lofoten. According to her daughter-in-law Aasel Jonassen, she was also a farm manager, she helped neighbors in childbirth, butchered, and was skilled with a rifle. Among other things, she is said to have shot a bear. At the same time, she was also the mother of several children.

» You know that she was a boat captain and got her name because she wore trousers when she took part in the Lofoten fishery. It was not difficult for Boks-Beret to get workers on her boat to Lofoten, because she knew so much (this refers to magic powers) that when the storm came and the waves wanted to bury the boat, she looked at the wave, and then it subsided. The boat cut across it without getting splashed with water.» (Bjørnson 1916)

In the winter of 1832, Berit participated in the Lofoten fishery. One month before the fishing is over, the head woman decided to go home. The crew protested, because they did unusually good fishing this year – but they had no choice but to follow Berit and set sail for home. The ottring (boat) was steered straight up into the Forså shore, an unusual event in itself. Once at home, she arranged coffee for herself and her husband. The pipe and tobacco were brought out and Berit had a well-deserved puff before she went into the chamber and gave birth to her fifth child.

Source: Inga Bjørnson (1916): Dundor-Heikka og flere lappers historier fortalt av dem selv: optegnelser fra Ofoten