Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T21:04:53.432Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Catching up: the state and potential of historical catch data from Svalbard in the European Arctic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2017

Frigga Kruse
Frigga Kruse*
Affiliation:
University of Groningen, Arctic Centre, Aweg 30, 9718 CW Groningen, the Netherlands ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Svalbard in the European Arctic has a well-documented history of natural resource exploitation. Since its discovery in 1596, the archipelago has witnessed phases of commercial whaling, sealing, fur hunting and fishing. Scientists, trophy hunters and miners have also added to the depletion of wildlife. The magnitude, scale and speed of the hunt, however, remain largely unknown. This paper collates historical catch data of five selected species of game animal from published written and archaeological sources. These species include the bowhead whale, the Atlantic walrus, the polar bear, the Arctic fox and the Svalbard reindeer. The paper thereby aims to quantify the anthropogenic pressure on Svalbard's ecosystems over more than four centuries. This quantification is only moderately successful. The incomplete record prevents the use of this catch data as a suitable indicator of human-induced ecosystem change. To advance the state of knowledge, the paper recommends a return to the primary sources across international archives, libraries and museum collections, and outlines steps with which to arrive at the much needed time-depth in Svalbard historical ecology.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 53 , Issue 5 , September 2017 , pp. 520 - 533
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aalders, Y. I. (2012). Perception of polar resources: a comparison of the animal remains of the Russian hunting station Kokerineset and the Dutch whaling station Smeerenburg. In: Hacquebord, L. (Ed.). Lashipa. History of large scale resource exploitation in polar areas (pp. 33–46). Eelde: Barkhuis.Google Scholar
Allen, R. C., & Keay, I. (2001). The first great whale extinction: the end of the bowhead whale in the eastern Arctic. Explorations in Economic History, 38, 448–477.Google Scholar
Allen, R. C., & Keay, I. (2004). Saving the whales: lessons from the extinction of the eastern Arctic Bowhead. The Journal of Economic History, 64, 400–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, R.C., & Keay, I. (2006). Bowhead whales in the eastern Arctic, 1611–1911: population reconstruction with historical whaling. Environment and History, 12, 89–113.Google Scholar
Anastasopoulou, S., Chobotova, V., Dawson, T., Kluvankova-Oravska, T., & Rounsevell, M. (2007). Identifying and assessing socio-economic and environmental drivers that affect ecosystems and their services. Retrieved from http://www.rubicode.net/rubicode/submenuReports.html.Google Scholar
Angerbjörn, A., & Tannerfeldt, M. (2014). Vulpes lagopus (Arctic fox, polar fox). The IUCN red list of threatened species 2014. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-2.RLTS.T899A57549321.en.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appleby, J. (2008). Conflict, cooperation and competition: the rise and fall of the Hull whaling trade during the seventeenth century. The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du Nord, 28, 23–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arlov, T. (1989). A short history of Svalbard. Oslo: Norwegian Polar Institute.Google Scholar
Berkes, F., & Folke, C. (1998). Navigating social-ecological systems: building resilience for complexity and change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bruijn, J. R., & Davids, C. A. (1975). Jonas vrij, de Nederlandse walvisvaart, in het bijzonder de Amsterdamse, in de Jaren 1640–1664 [Jonas free, Dutch whaling, particularly Amsterdam whaling, in the years 1640–1664]. Economisch-en Social-Historisch Jaarboek, 38, 141–178.Google Scholar
CIfA. (2014). Standard and guidance for archaeological field evaluation. Reading: The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists.Google Scholar
Crumley, C. L. (1994). Historical ecology: a multidimensional ecological orientation. In: Crumley, C. L. (Ed.). Historical ecology: cultural knowledge and changing landscapes (pp. 1–16). Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.Google Scholar
De Jong, C. (1979). Geschiedenis van de oude nederlandse walvisvaart [History of old Dutch whaling] (Vols. 1–3). Pretoria: University of South Africa.Google Scholar
De Veer, G. (1598). Waerachtighe beschryvinghe van drie seylagien, ter werelt noyt soo vreemt ghehoort [Truthful description of three voyages, the strangeness of which the world has never heard]. Amsterdam: Cornelis Claesz.Google Scholar
Gjertz, I., & Persen, E. (1987). Confrontations between humans and polar bears in Svalbard. Polar Research, 5, 253–256.Google Scholar
Gjertz, I., & Wiig, Ø. (1994). Past and present distribution of walruses in Svalbard. Arctic, 47, 34–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gustafsson, U. (2010). Industrialising the Arctic: settlement design and technical adaptations of modern whaling stations in Spitsbergen and Bear Island. In: Ringstad, J. E. (Ed.). Whaling & history III (pp. 45–49). Sandefjord: Vestfoldmuseene IKS.Google Scholar
Hacquebord, L. (1984). Smeerenburg. Het verblijf van Nederlandse walvisvaarders op de westkust van Spitsbergen in de zeventiende eeuw [Smeerenburg. The settlement of Dutch whalers on the west coast of Spitsbergen in the seventeenth century]. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Hacquebord, L. (1999). The hunting of the Greenland right whale in Svalbard, its interaction with climate and its impact on the marine ecosystem. Polar Record, 18, 375–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacquebord, L. (2001). Three centuries of whaling and walrus hunting in Svalbard and its impact on the Arctic ecosystem. Environment and History, 7, 169–185.Google Scholar
Henttonen, H., & Tikhonov, A. (2008). Rangifer tarandus (caribou, Peary caribou, reindeer). The IUCN red list of threatened species 2008. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T29742A9528324.en.Google Scholar
Holland, C. (1994). Arctic exploration and development, c. 500 to 1915: an encyclopedia. New York, NY: Garland Publishing.Google Scholar
Jackson, G. (1978). The British whaling trade. London: A & C Black.Google Scholar
Kjær, K.-G. (2011). Serial slaughter: the development of the north Norwegian sealing fleet: 1859–1909. Polar Record, 47, 1–20.Google Scholar
Kruse, F. (2016). Is Svalbard a pristine ecosystem? Reconstructing 420 years of human presence in the Arctic archipelago. Polar Record, 52, 518–534.Google Scholar
Lowry, L., Kovacs, K., & Burkanov, V. (2008). Odobenus rosmarus (Walrus). The IUCN red list of threatened species 2008. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T15106A4494577.en.Google Scholar
Lønø, O. (1972). The catch of walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) in the areas of Svalbard, Novaya Zemlya, and Franz Josef Land. In: Norwegian Polar Institute. Årbok 1970 (pp. 199–212). Oslo: Norwegian Polar Institute.Google Scholar
Lønø, O. (2014). Norske fangstmenns overvintringer på Svalbard og Jan Mayen 1795–1973 [Norwegian hunters’ winterings in Svalbard and Jan Mayen 1795–1973]. Longyearbyen: Svalbard Museum.Google Scholar
Maxim, L., Spangenberg, J., & O'Connor, M. (2009). An analysis of risks for biodiversity under the DPSIR framework. Ecological Economy, 69, 12–23.Google Scholar
MOSJ. (n.d.). Miljøovervåkting Svalbard og Jan Mayen [Environmental monitoring of Svalbard and Jan Mayen]. Retrieved from http://www.mosj.no/en/.Google Scholar
Nelson, G. C., Bennett, E., Berhe, A. A., Cassman, K. G., DeFries, R., Dietz, T., . . . Zurek, M. (2005). Drivers of change in ecosystem condition and services (pp. 173–222). In: Carpenter, S. R., Pingali, P. L., Bennett, E. M., & Zurek, M. B. (Eds.). Ecosystem and human well-being: scenarios (Vol. 2). Washington, DC: Island Press, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Series. Retrieved from http://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.331.aspx.pdf.Google Scholar
Fisheries, NOAA. (2013). Bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus). Retrieved from http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/cetaceans/bowheadwhale.htm.Google Scholar
Norwegian Polar Institute. (2014). Norwegian Polar Institute map data and services. Retrieved from http://geodata.npolar.no/#thematic-map-services.Google Scholar
Poole, J. (1604–1609). Divers voyages to Cherry Island, in the years 1604, 1605, 1606, 1608, 1609. In: Purchas, S. (1906). Hakluytus posthumus or Purchas his pilgrims (Vol. 13, pp. 265–293). Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons.Google Scholar
Reilly, J. T. (2009). Greetings from Spitsbergen. Tourists at the eternal ice, 1827–1914. Trondheim: Tapir Academic Press.Google Scholar
Reilly, S. B., Bannister, J. L., Best, P. B., Brown, M., Brownell, R. L. Jr., Butterworth, D. S., . . . Zerbini, A. N. (2012). Balaena mysticetus (Arctic right whale, bowhead, bowhead whale, Greenland right whale). The IUCN red list of threatened species 2012. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012.RLTS.T2467A17879018.en.Google Scholar
Schokkenbroek, J. C. A. (2008). Trying-out. Amsterdam: Aksant.Google Scholar
Schokkenbroek, J. C. A. (2010). Trying out. Dutch Arctic whaling and sealing in the nineteenth century and the Norwegian connection. In: Ringstad, J. E. (Ed.). Whaling & history III (pp. 69–74). Sandefjord: Vestfoldmuseene IKS.Google Scholar
SSB. (2015). Historisk statistikk – Svalbard [Historical statistics – Svalbard]. Oslo: Statistics Norway. Retrieved from https://www.ssb.no/a/histstat/svalbard/svalbard.html.Google Scholar
Thuesen, N. P. (2005). Svalbards historie i årstall [Svalbard's history in years]. Oslo: Orion.Google Scholar
Van Wijngaarden-Bakker, L. H. (1984). De dierenresten van Smeerenburg, een poging tot reconstructie van de dierlijke component in the voeding van de 17de eeuwse walvisvaarders [The animal remains from Smeerenburg, an attempt to reconstruct the animal component in the diet of the seventeenth-century whalers]. In: Hacquebord, L. (Ed.). Smeerenburg. Het verblijf van Nederlandse walvisvaarders op de westkust van Spitsbergen in de zeventiende eeuw [Smeerenburg. The settlement of Dutch whalers on the west coast of Spitsbergen in the seventeenth century] (pp. 279–300). Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Van Wijngaarden-Bakker, L. H. (1987). Zooarchaeological Research at Smeerenburg. In: Norwegian Polar Institute. Smeerenburg seminar: report from a symposium presenting results from research into seventeenth century whaling in Spitsbergen (pp. 55–87). Oslo: Norwegian Polar Institute.Google Scholar
Węsławski, J. M., Hacquebord, L., Stempniewicz, L., & Malinga, M. (2000). Greenland whales and walruses in the Svalbard food web before and after exploitation. Oceanologia, 42, 37–56.Google Scholar
Wiig, Ø., Born, E. W., & Stewart, R. E. A. (2014). Management of Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) in the arctic Atlantic. NAMMCO Scientific Publications, 9, 315–341.Google Scholar
Wiig, Ø., Amstrup, S., Atwood, T., Laidre, K., Lunn, N., Obbard, M., . . . Thiemann, G. (2015). Ursus maritimus (polar bear). The IUCN red list of threatened species 2015. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T22823A14871490.en.Google Scholar
Wisniewska, I., & Solnes, S. (2014). Rapport fra prosjektet: Russisk fangst – den første overvintringsfangst på Svalbard [Report of the project: Russian hunting – the first winter hunting in Svalbard]. Longyearbyen: Svalbard Museum.Google Scholar