FLEETS & HISTORY

. History of the herring fishery:
The German Drift Net Herring Fishery, 1890s – 1970s

Herring was caught not only near shore and in the bights of the northern European coasts, but also offshore already from the middle ages. Since the beginning of the 17th century, and for more than 200 years, Dutch fishermen dominated the European herring catch and processing at the North Sea . They caught the fish by a fleet of sailing drifters (named "Buise", Fig. 1). Fish was processed by gutting, salting and barreling very soon after hauling the drift nets on deck. Special regulations applied, required not at least by the herring merchant guilds in Hamburg, for the beginning of the catch season, the dividing of the catch into different sizes and maturation status for product classes, the salting itself, and the packing into barrels made of oak wood (Kantjes).
Fig. 1: A dutch Buise from the 17th century
With respect to the different barrel contents which resulted, special marks ("Zirkel", Fig. 2) on top and aside the controlled barrels guarantied preserved salted herring of high quality. Especially for use during frequent lent periods, Dutch salt herring was distributed by herring merchants in Hamburg and Bremen throughout large parts of central Europe and even into Mediterranean countries. Later on, salt herring was a cheap food for the working class in the rapidly growing industrial areas. However, the general procedure of catch and processing enforced by 16th Century regulations remained through all the times. It still was in use on board the German herring motor luggers up to the 1970s when this type of German herring fishery definitely ended.
Fig. 2: "Zirkel" for marking herring barrels

A larger and longer lasting German herring fishery developped during the 1890s, following different attempts through the centuries and at different places of the German northwestern coasts, after boat types sailing faster and easier to handle became common (lugger, Germ.: Logger; created in France). Forced by the idea that a much larger national German herring fleet would be able to satisfy the huge desire on the German herring market, the "Deutsche Seefischerei-Verein" (German Sea-fisheries Association) under Walther Herwig’s leadership arranged governmental support for enlarging and improving the fleet. Thus, very soon auxilliary steam engines shortened the trips of the originally sailing vessels in the growing fleet, which operated in the North Sea. The development of a special type of motor lugger started 1902. Their improvements during the 1920s, the 1930s and 1950s resulted in larger vessels and catches, and provided more security for the crews. Winches ere now able to support the setting and the hauling of the drift nets of up to 5 km length. But the herring was gutted, salted and packed on the open deck as done through all the passed centuries since that time when - as a famous fairy tale tells - Jan Beukels from Hoorn in Holland had invented this method in the 16th Century.

Since the 1890s, German luggers fished in the North Sea changing fishing grounds with the passing season, starting in the north in May and ending in September in the English Channel area. This type of fishery vanished with the over-exploitation of the North Sea herring stocks in the 1970s. Although herring was the fish species with the highest consumption in Germany at that time (and still is), the herring drift net fishing - with low energy costs - had no revival in Germany.

The black/white photographs displayed here originate from the end of 1940s and early 1950s. They were taken at Bremen-Vegesack, one of the four German logger harbors, and onboard the vessels of this port. The colored pictures show scenes at sea during summer 1963, taken by Gerhard Wagner, a fisheries biologist of the Hamburg-based Institute for Sea Fisheries, sampling different lugger cruises.

In springtime the lugger fleets were prepared and supplied for first sailing in May. A part of the Vegesack fleet is nearly ready for the fishing season (Fig. 3). The huge piles of different sized Kantjes ashore demonstrate the expected yield during the next weeks. The small lower four character numbers at the bow of the vessels, e.g. on the first lugger B.V. 84, were the register signs of the Allied Forces governing postwar Germany. They indicate that the photograph has been taken in 1949 or earlier.
Fig. 3: Part of the Vegesack herring fleet

Surface floats (Brails) were used to keep the vertical drifting net in the most effective fishing depth by means of variable ropes (see e.g. Fig. 9). Supplying the vessels with these floats is shown in Fig. 4. The necessary large amounts of ropes were already stored on deck (portside, in front of the mast).

Fig. 4: Loading brails

An essential part of the preparation of the cruises by the crews was to fix the sinkers along the lower net line (Fig. 5). This was done on the long piers in the harbors, before the nets of 30 m length and 15 m height were stored in relatively tiny rooms beneath the ship’s working decks.

Fig. 5: Fixing the sinkers

Apart from the fisheries equipment and up to 1400 barrels for storage of the catch, food and water supply for cruises lasting up to about five weeks was to store onboard the about 40 m long vessels. Therefore, barrels to be filled with herring were used to transport the huge amount of salt for herring preservation as well as food and water for the sailors. Only new barrels could of course be used for drinking water transportation. Their special filling technique is demonstrated in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6: Herring barrels are filled with water prior to the cruise

Fig. 7: Drifters reaching their fishing grounds

Fig. 8: During late afternoon, the nets were taken from the store rooms (Fig. 8), and lowered after combining them to a wall of up to five kilometer length.

Fig. 9: Tied at the vessel’s bow, the net was spread by the backwards drifting ship due to wind and/or current (Fig. 9).

Fig. 10: While conducting their dial migration for food near the surface during night, the herring was trapped into the net walls. During morning time the filled nets were hauled by winches.

Fig. 11: Crew is shaking out herring trapped in the nets onto the deck.

Fig. 12: As soon as the last part of the net was onboard again, the largest part of the crew started gutting the herring (sitting beneath the mast). Only experienced sailors were allowed to salt the gutted fish in a one-side-open wooden trough (in the center).
Fig. 13: Thus well prepared, the sorted fishes were carefully packed into barrels by hand. With a final layer of salt on top, the barrels were ready to be closed and stored in the rooms, the last barrels filled during a cruise were stored on deck.

Fig. 14: Back at the harbor, filled barrels were unloaded across sister vessel at the pier to save time.

Fig. 15: While the unloaded filled barrels in front were awaiting further processing in the company’s buildings, the drifters were supplied again for next cruise from the piles of barrels visible in the background.

Fig 16: Inside the company’s production hall, all sea-packed barrels were re-opened and controlled because the barrel’s content volume was meanwhile reduced by dehydration of the herring. Now, This space was now filled up again with herring, mostly by women ().

Fig. 17: The women also sorted parts of the catches into different final products, e.g. “Matjes”, a specially processed young salt herring.

Fig. 18: To satisfy also the customer’s eye, the final top herring layer in every barrel was to be packed in a special array.

Fig. 19: Parallel to the increasing drifter fleet, German steam trawlers caught herring with trawled nets since the early 20th century. During the early days the vessels had to reach the markets within a few days for processing their catches, which were cooled on ice. Freezing the catches onboard and enlarging the steamers generated an especially effective fishery since the 1950s, even during rough weather periods (Fig. 20).

Entered/Updated by (Date)
Gerd Wegner (15 Sep 03)