Fishing

Fishing has great economic and social importance to all coastal communities. In addition to fish and shellfish, the sea provides products of exceptional value — seal pelts, whale oil, mother of pearl, and ambergris.

Fishermen are unguilded and generally poor, but most are freemen. Sea fishermen depend on maritime skills to survive; the rewards are sparse and the work extremely dangerous. Most start young, learning the trade as near-apprentices while doing the drudgery. Very few fishermen own a boat; they work for a share of the catch on larger vessels and dream of one day owning their own.

Fishing Communities

Fishermen live as part of their wider community; very few live in exclusively fishing settlements. Even in the largest cities, not many families rely on fishing for their primary income.

The largest numbers of fishermen are naturally found at coastal sites. However, significant numbers fish inland — with spears, cast nets, and traps along rivers, lakes, and marshes.

In feudal manors, the right to harvest beaches and fish lakes and streams is held by the lord. Tenants are typically granted fishing rights in exchange for a fifth or quarter share of the catch. Some manors accept fish in lieu of labour obligations.

The Catch

In addition to fish, the sea provides seaweed, shellfish, urchins, crabs, crustaceans, and marine mammals. Demand for sturgeon and pike exceeds that for common herring. Cod is the most demanded fish overall, salted and sold to fighting orders, caravans, and anyone requiring portable, storable food.

Key Fishing Grounds

• Sea of Ivae: Great schools of herring and mackerel, especially in the Gulfs of Ederwyn and Andurien
• Hutheng (north island): Huge cod schools reached by Rethemi, Kandian, and western Ivinian fleets
• Gulf of Chakro: Haddock, halibut, plaice, and flounder
• Thard River / Lake Benath: Sturgeon (most prized of all freshwater fish), eel (most important by volume)
• Orbaal and Peran coasts: Whale oil and seal pelts (especially significant from Golotha)

River and Lake Fish

Bream, dace, eel, lamprey, perch, pike, roach, salmon, sturgeon, and trout. Where natural waters prove insufficient, abbeys and manors build fishponds to raise fish for the table.

Methods

Nets: Most productive from boats. Bottom-dwelling fish: purse or dragnets (tubular, mouth held open by weights and floats). Free-swimming surface fish: seine nets (long wall-type nets, best deployed by two boats). Seine nets can also be set from beaches.

Lines: Small baited hooks at regular intervals.

Harpoons: Main tool for whales, dolphins, and seals. A barbed tip is fixed to a long rope tied to the boat. Large whales can sink a boat.

Fish Traps: Pot traps for eels, crabs, and lobsters. River traps use lines of closely set posts to channel fish into collection pens.

Spears, cast nets, and fish-tickling: Primarily for inland solo fishermen.

Fishing Vessels

• Nivik: Most suitable for deep-sea work
• Pinda / Talbar: Preferred for coastal and river work
• Typical length: 15–21 feet; small skiffs and dories under 9 feet for light duties

Preservation and Trade

Much of the catch is consumed locally. Preserved fish feeds inland settlements and fortification stores.

The Salters’ Guild holds the prerogative of preserving fish for resale. Four common methods:

1. Drying — simplest; prepared fish hung on lines in sun or in drying sheds
2. Smoking — hung in a chimney or purpose-built smoking chambers; best for oily fish (herring, mackerel, salmon). Does not last as long as salted fish.
3. Pickling — brine soak, then storage in a salter’s proprietary vinegar/spice/herb mixture. An exceptional recipe can make a salter famous and wealthy.
4. Salting — best for long-term storage. Fish packed in layers of salt in barrels; a staple of siege provisions, fighting orders, and caravans.

Transport is by river barges and then cart. Mercantylers — not fishermen or salters — conduct the fish trade, buying at port and selling wherever demand takes them.

Economics

Fish is sold in wicker baskets of approximately 40 pounds; about half is waste. The annual catch per crewman is roughly 240 baskets (inshore) or 480 baskets (offshore). Gross annual income per crewman: approximately 1,440d. Boat expenses (crew shares at one-quarter, gear, repairs, registration) consume most of a boat owner’s profit.

Fishing trips exceeding five days are impractical unless fish are preserved aboard, as most fish begin to spoil after 3–5 days out of water.