Ph.D. project by René Taudal Poulsen (University of Southern Denmark)
Supervisors: ?
The intention behind the research project “The exploitation of the marine resources of the North Sea, 1850-1915” is to answer the following two questions:
1. What was the human impact on the marine environment?
To what extent were the changes of the North Sea ecosystem induced by fishing? Were the nineteenth century fishermen depleting the North Sea fish stocks? Did recruitment overfishing take place in the nineteenth century fishing industry?
I will generate a data set for the catches and fishing effort in the North Sea fishing industry for the period 1850 to 1914 in order to estimate the impact of fishing on the most important commercial fish stocks in the North Sea. Using catch-per-unit-effort data to estimate the changing stock abundances, I hope to distinguish between anthropogenic and ecological causes of ecosystem changes.
2. What were the driving forces of the nineteenth century fishing industry?
The fishing industry experienced a rapid expansion during the period from 1850 to 1914. The steam trawler and more efficient types of fishing gear were introduced. I hope to explain why this expansion took place. I will introduce ecological aspects into the analysis in addition to economic, political, social and technological aspects. How did the fishermen react to changing stock abundances? Did the fishermen start to fish a wider area because of declining coastal stocks? Did the expansion of the fishing industry take place because new technology was at hand? What was the importance of a growing market for fish?