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New research shows intensive sea fishing dates back 1,000 years

Posted on 24 November 2004

Over-exploitation may have put Europe's modern sea fisheries at risk, with stocks of many species either exhausted or on the point of collapse.

But new archaeological evidence reveals that today's crisis in the industry has its origins far earlier than first thought.

A study, led by University of York academics and published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, has discovered that intensive sea fishing in Europe dates back 1,000 years.

Using fish bone records from 127 archaeological digs across England as a source of vital clues into people's diets, the researchers charted changes in importance of fish as a food source, preferences for different species, trade patterns and availability. They discovered a dramatic rise in sea fishing around AD1000, a trend that was mirrored elsewhere in Europe.

Dr James Barrett, of the University of York's Department of Archaeology, and co-author freelance zooarchaeologist Alison Locker traced patterns of fish consumption between AD600 and 1600.

Our findings show that human impacts on the sea could be far more ancient than is usually assumed

Dr James Barrett

"Within the space of a few decades around AD1000, there was a dramatic shift in the bone record from freshwater to fully marine species," Dr Barrett said.

"Fish like pike, trout, tench, bream and perch, together with migratory species like salmon, eel and smelt dominate finds from the 7th to 10th centuries. From the 11th century onward, they are supplanted by herring, cod, haddock, hake and saithe. There was a sea-fishing revolution which swept through England."

The study suggests that fishing communities turned to marine activities not because of increasing supplies of sea fish but due to rising demand coupled with falling freshwater stocks.

Co-author Professor Callum Roberts, of the University of York's Environment Department, said: "Increasing supply of sea fish can be ruled out because at the time of the marine fishing revolution, Europe was basking in the mild weather of the Medieval Warm Period. Warmer conditions depress cod production in the North Sea and herring production was probably similarly low."

The end of the first millennium was a time of extraordinary change in medieval Europe with the human population expanding, cities developing and wild woods being cleared. Demand for fish was high, particularly as new Christian practices forbade eating flesh on 150 days of the year.

Meanwhile, freshwater stocks were suffering due to the drastic human impact on waterways -- watermills proliferated in 10th and 11th-century Europe, their dams blocking access for migratory species such as salmon. At the same time, soil eroding from newly created farmland choked watercourses.

Dr Barrett added: "Our findings show that human impacts on the sea could be far more ancient than is usually assumed. The century between AD950 and 1050 can now be pinpointed as the ultimate origin of today's fishing crisis and a critical period for future research on marine ecosystems."