Marine mammals in the culture of Norwegian coastal communities

Abstract

This paper explores the socio-cultural aspects of hunting marine mammals in Norway in a historic perspective. It argues that although modern minke whaling is of relatively recent origin, cetaceans have long been taken when an opportunity occurred. The successful introduction of modern minke whaling around 1930 testifies to the great imagination of the fishermen in their attempts to harvest new resources from their environments whenever new technologies or new markets made this possible. This entrepreneurship is an important cultural feature for a people who had been forced to harvest a number of resources, both marine and terrestrial, in order to make viable households and communities. Sealing and whaling activities acquired cultural importance for the formation of people's identities. With the emergence of the protectionist sentiments abroad, sealing and whaling have taken on new meanings. Restrictions on sealing and whaling are only the last of a series of such restrictions imposed on their activities since the end of World War II, forcing the fishermen to become more specialized and thus more vulnerable to ecological fluctuations in the future. Hence, to the fishermen whaling and sealing have become powerful symbols for their struggle to retain influence over the resources on which their livelihood depends.