Trade and Herring in Dutch Society

Although the people of the Netherlands were at war with their Spanish rulers, the Dutch economy prospered between 1588 and 1648, and trade was at the heart of this prosperity The expansion of trade directly and indirectly brought increased employment opportunities: toward the middle of the seventeenth century, the fleet of trading ships employed almost 30,000 people, and the handling of cargoes in the ports provided work for large numbers of people. In addition there were those involved in the internal transport system, moving goods and people along the rivers and canals. Another important source of employment was provided by artisan production of various kinds; manufacturing was still labor-intensive– literally handwork -with very limited inputs of nonanimal energy, with the exception of the large-scale use of wind power for sawmills. Also the fisheries and secondary industries were important sources of employment. Although the import and re-export of goods through the staple-market(market for bulk commodities, especially raw materials) was paramount to the success of the trading economy, manufacturing and fisheries supplied valuable export products for foreign trade.?

Herring are an edible ocean fish, and the herring fishery was important as a source of employment because it provided a crucial export item, as well as helping to feed the Dutch population. In terms of the numbers of boats and people employed, most if not all of the growth of the fishery seems to have already taken place before the revolt against Spanish rule began in 1568, with subsequent developments consisting chiefly of improvements in organization and co-ordination between the various branches of the industry. Dutch success in the fisheries was by no means certain ahead of time; the movement of the best herring fishing grounds to the North Sea gave them the opportunity, but they were geographically no better placed to exploit this than many potential rivals indeed less so than the Scots and the English. What then accounts for the greater success of the Dutch?

Over the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. northern Netherlands fishing fleets had introduced a number of key innovations, which gave them a decisive edge. Specialized fishing boats came into use, and mother ships (supply ships) began to sail with the fleet to enable these boats to stay on the fishing grounds longer. Also, a new method of preserving herring was found in the fifteenth century, and curing began to take place at sea to improve the quality of the product. High quality was indeed the key to the success of the Dutch herring business, and concern to maintain this advantage over their competitors led to the use of the finest salt that could be found and to careful monitoring of the barreling storage process. It seems to have been agreed by contemporaries that Dutch herring was the best which provided the Dutch with a market even in Scandinavia with its own sources of the fish. In fact, herring made a significant contribution to the development of the Baltic trade providing an export item with a ready market there.

There may have been as many as 500 specialized boats employed at the peak of the herring fishery in the early seventeenth century. This in itself must have provided employment for 6,000 to 7,000 people, though only for part of the year, as the herring fishing was seasonal, starting in late June and ending in December or early January. However, if herring packers and the workers making the barrels in which the fish were packed are included, then the work provided directly by the fishery rises considerably. Moreover, the indirect boost to shipbuilding and sail and rope making is impossible to calculate but must have been significant and, if the transport to various markets by barge boat is taken into consideration, then the overall impact of the fishery on employment opportunities rises again.

There were other sea fisheries, especially cod, but the biggest growth in the early seventeenth century came in Arctic whaling, which rose from practically nothing to an important, if not always thriving, business. Initially this was open sea whaling, but from about the 1640s onward certain whales became increasingly difficult to find in open waters, which meant that whaling had to turn to the construction of specially strengthened ships that could follow the whales into the pack ice. The real expansion of Dutch whaling, however, belongs to the second half of the century.?

1.Although the people of the Netherlands were at war with their Spanish rulers, the Dutch economy prospered between 1588 and 1648, and trade was at the heart of this prosperity The expansion of trade directly and indirectly brought increased employment opportunities: toward the middle of the seventeenth century, the fleet of trading ships employed almost 30,000 people, and the handling of cargoes in the ports provided work for large numbers of people. In addition there were those involved in the internal transport system, moving goods and people along the rivers and canals. Another important source of employment was provided by artisan production of various kinds; manufacturing was still labor-intensive– literally handwork -with very limited inputs of nonanimal energy, with the exception of the large-scale use of wind power for sawmills. Also the fisheries and secondary industries were important sources of employment. Although the import and re-export of goods through the staple-market(market for bulk commodities, especially raw materials) was paramount to the success of the trading economy, manufacturing and fisheries supplied valuable export products for foreign trade.?