Global Harvest

This chapter presents an overview of the most well-studied fisheries of the early modern period. Following our discussion in Chapter 1 , this section takes a broad approach to the idea of fisheries and investigates many different forms of marine life harvesting. It focuses on a series of representative sea fisheries which can tell us about marine exploitation and its impacts, rather than trying to cover every extractive operation. Each section outlines how a given fishery functioned, gives some examples, and discusses its importance to early modern environments, foodways, and economies. These studies show how fisheries reshaped marine ecosystems, along with the human and technological adaptations that made the fisheries possible. The chapter begins with cod, herring, whales, seals, and walrus. The focus then shifts to shellfish, seaweeds, and the role of seabirds in fishing. In order to show how each of these fisheries impacted the marine environment in new ways, the chapter also discusses the difference between these commercial fisheries and more subsistence-based fisheries during the same period. It concludes with a discussion about the importance of the variety of marine organisms harvested in the early modern era, and the impact of these operations on global marine ecosystems.