Coastal Commons in Times of Crisis: The Role of the Traditional Oslofjord Fisheries in Mitigating the 1740–1743 Famine

This article explores how coastal communities along the Oslofjord fared during the 1740 – 1743 famine years, a period remembered as one of the most severe cold periods and famines experienced in Norway during the early modern period. Reports from the early 1740s celebrate bountiful fisheries during the years of climate anomaly, and a demographic comparison indicates that death rates were lower in coastal areas. During this period, the fisheries of the Oslofjord were sustenance fisheries, where minimal commercialisation and trade occurred. This article considers the implications of subsistence fisheries and access to coastal commons in famine and climate anomaly adaptation, finding that the conditions of pre-industrial fisheries allowed the poor and starving to benefit from the ‘gifts of the sea’ when famine overshadowed the land.