The purpose of this book is to increase our understanding of the driving forces in pre-modern resource exploitation. Within this, the goal is to make distinction between human and natural impacts on the marine ecosystem through analyses... more
The purpose of this book is to increase our understanding of the driving forces in pre-modern resource exploitation. Within this, the goal is to make distinction between human and natural impacts on the marine ecosystem through analyses of relevant sets of historical source material. This leads to a starting point of formulating three overarching questions. 1. What were the main forces stimulating changes in the exploitation of North Sea herring in the period of c. 1600-1860. In other words, what were the dynamics of this particular historical system? 2. What was the role of the natural environment in this? 3. What caused the long term decline of the Dutch herring fisheries?
