Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T21:10:33.423Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Eider exploitation by hunters and trappers on Svalbard during the 19th and early 20th centuries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Gustav Rossnes
Gustav Rossnes
Affiliation:
Tromsø Museum, University of Tromsø, N-9000 Troms0, Norway
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Natural resources of Svalbard, notably seal, walrus, whale, reindeer, polar bear and Arctic fox, were exploited through the 19th and early 20th centuries by both overwintering and seasonal hunters and trappers. Hunters also collected eggs and down of eider ducks to supplement their catches. Amounts of uncleaned down officially registered as imported to Norway ranged from 300–2600 kg annually (mean 1300 kg). The accuracy of these figures is discussed. Eider down accounted for 7–10% of the annual income of the trappers who wintered on the islands. Competition between trappers spending the winter and the crews of the sealers and whalers often resulted in an unorganized free-for-all collection of down and eggs, causing a steady decline of the eider population. The population was protected by legislation in 1963 and the designation of several bird sanctuaries in 1973, in which it was hoped that eider numbers would recover. It is not clear whether these measures have been successful: historical records have too many lacunae for a reliable calculation of the original size of the eider population which the trappers and sealers exploited.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 27 , Issue 160 , January 1991 , pp. 47 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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

Dietz, J. 1923. Master Johann Dietz, Surgeon in the Army of the great Elector and Barber to the Royal Court. From the old manuscript in the Royal Library of Berlin (First ed. Munchen 1915 by Dr. Ernst Consentius, translated by Bernard Maill). London, George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Elking, H. 1722. Aview of the Greenland trade and whalefishery. With the national and private advantages thereof. London, J. Roberts. (Facsimile 1980. Whitby: Caedmon).Google Scholar
Fiskeridirektøren, . 1914. Norges Fiskerier 1912. Norges officielle Statistik V, 220. Kristiania, Aschehoug.Google Scholar
Gerritsz, H. 1967. Histoire du pays nomme Spitsberghe. Comme il a este descouvert, sa situation & de ses Animauls. In Sir W. Martin Conway (editor, introduction and notes), Early Dutch and English Voyages to Spitsbergen in the seventeenth century. Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, Second Series, No XI: 9–65. (First issue Amsterdam 1613. Reproduced from the edition originally published by the Hakluyt Society 1904). NendelnALiechtenstein, Kraus Reprint.Google Scholar
Gordon, S. 1922. Amid snowy wastes. Wild life on the Spitsbergen archipelago. London, Cassel.Google Scholar
Greve, T. 1975. Svalbard. Norge i Nordishavet. Oslo, Grøndahl.Google Scholar
Hansen, L. 1928. En havets søn. Oslo, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag.Google Scholar
Helland, A. 1899. Topografisk-statistik beskrivelse over Troms⍜ Ami Førstedel. Den almindelige del. Vol.1: Norges land og folk. Topografisk-statistik beskrevet. (Vol. XIX Tromso Amt). Kristiania: H. Aschehoug & Co.s Forlag.Google Scholar
Hoel, A. 1949. Ishavsfangst-Fangstnaering. In: Strøm, J. (editor). Norsk fiskeri og fangsth&ndbok: 706–861. Oslo, Alb Cammermeyers forlag.Google Scholar
Holmsen, G. 1911. Spitsbergens natur og historie. Kristiania, Olaf Norllis Forlag.Google Scholar
Ingstad, H. 1948. Landet med de kalde kyster. Oslo, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag.Google Scholar
Isachsen, G. 1929. Den norske ishavsfangst. In: Worm-Müller, J. S. (editor). Den norske sjøfarts historie. Fra deaeldstetidertilvoredage. Vol III.2: 361–382. Oslo, Steenske Forlag.Google Scholar
Kolsrud, K. 1975. Dunvaer. Norveg Tidsskrift for folkelivsgransking 18: 1–40.Google Scholar
Martin, A. R. 1882. Dagbok hallen vid en resatill Norrpolen eller Spitsbergen, pa Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akademiens omkostnad och med ett Grönländska Compagniet i Göteborg tillhörande skepp ar 1758 förrättad. Ymer, 1/ 1881: 102–41. Stockholm, Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi.Google Scholar
Mehlum, F. and Prestrud, P. (in press). Population size and summer distribution of the Svalbard Common Eider Somateria mollissima. Skrifter 195, Norsk Polarinstitutt, Oslo.Google Scholar
Norderhaug, M. 1982. Svalbard - mennesket i den siste villmark. Oslo, Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Nöis, D. N. 1925. Svalbard. Litt historie og nogen oplevelser. And-Ungen. Julehefte og arsskrift 1925 4: 6–11.Google Scholar
Nöis, D. N. 1926. Svalbard-minner fra 1905–06. And- Ungen. Julehefte og irsskrift 1926 5. arg.: 8–13.Google Scholar
Nöis, D. N. 1928. Svalbard-minner 1911–12. And-Ungen. Julehefte og irsskrift 1928, 6: 5–13.Google Scholar
Nöis, D. N. 1930. Svalbard-minner 1909–10. And-Ungen. Julehefte og Arsskrift 1930, 8. arg.: 7–16.Google Scholar
Nöis, D. N. 1958. Villreinen pa Svalbard. I: Polarklubb, Norsk, Polarboken 1958: 45–57. Oslo: Eget forlag.Google Scholar
Parker, H. 1983. Hekkestrategien hos aerfugl pa Svalbard. I: Amundsen, B. (red.), Svalbardboka 1983–84: 37–43. Tromso: Ursus forlag.Google Scholar
Selskabet for de norske Fiskeriers Fremme. 1913. Ishavsfangst fra Tromso Amt 1912. In: Barclay, M. (editor), Norsk Fiskeritidende, Bergen, A/S John Griegs Bogtrykkeri: 60–63..Google Scholar
Sivertsen, J. 1973. Hammerfest 1789–1914. Hammerfest, Hammerfest kommune.Google Scholar
Soot-Ryen, T. 1941. Egg-og dunvaer i Troms. Medtillegg om kobbeveider. Tromsø Museums Arshefter, Naturhistorisk avd. No. 20, Vol. 62 (1939), No. 1. Tromso.Google Scholar
Sørensen, L.N. 1961. Henry Rudi, Isbjørnkongen. Som fortalt til… Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag.Google Scholar
Tabeller vedkommende Norges Fiskerier i Aaret 1897. 1898. Norges officielle Statistik, Tredie Raekke No 298. (Udgivne af Det Statistiske Centralbureau). Kristiania, Aschehoug.Google Scholar
Tromsø Customs 1861–1907. Customs register with excerpts from main register of Tromsø Customs Authority: ‘Ishavsfangsten (Arctic Hunting). Specified list of vessels and yield. 1861–98’. (1864 missing, partial lists for 1899–1907). Archive No Na 9b, Department for Recent Cultural History, Tromso Museum/IMV.Google Scholar
Werenskiold, W. 1923. Fra Spitsbergen. Kristiania, H. Aschehoug.Google Scholar
Wold, H.A. 1982. Aerfugleninordonorskkystkultur. In: Suul, J. (editor), Norsk Omitologisk Historie. Norsk Ornitologisk Forening 1957–1982: 34–41. Trondheim, Norsk Omitologisk Forening.Google Scholar
Woldstad, W. 1956. Første kvinne som fangstmann p& Svalbard. Oslo, Johan Grundt Tanum.Google Scholar