In short, the purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of the driving forces in pre-modern resource exploitation. Within this framework, the goal is to distinguish between human and natural impacts on the marine ecosystem through analyses of relevant sets of historical source material.

This leads to the formulation of three overarching questions.

• • What were the main forces stimulating changes in the exploitation of North Sea herring in the period between approx. 1600-1860. In other words, what were the dynamics of this particular historical system?

• • What was the role of the natural environment in this regard?

• • What caused the long-term decline of the Dutch herring fisheries?

A marine environmental history

From the perspective of historiography, this can be considered a marine environmental history. This study is an empirical test of potential common theoretical grounds for the humanities, i.e. the study of history and the natural sciences, in this case marine ecology. The positive outcome of the applied theories demonstrates the fruitfulness of combining the two cultures, which are too often viewed as being unable to communicate.

The marine environmental analyses are aimed at helping to define a coherent system of North Sea herring exploitation between approx. 1600-1850 by testing a number of hypotheses.

It has been demonstrated that uniform sets of historical data allow for the reconstruction of long time series with regards to fishing effort and catch rates. It has also been proven that historical research can facilitate a reconstruction of the spatial dimensions of the North Sea herring exploitation pattern.

This successful outcome has made it possible to differentiate between natural and human impacts on North Sea herring.

The total extraction of North Sea herring was calculated for the period between approx. 1600-1850. It has been demonstrated that these quantities were insignificant in terms of their impact on the abundance of North Sea herring.

CPUE-indices have been applied to demonstrate how the population of North Sea herring fluctuated over 250 years, and the high detailed historical data has made it possible to track the migration of the North Sea herring stock, both seasonally and in a decadal perspective.