Fisheries & Maritime

Fishing and Katwijk

For many centuries fishing on the North Sea has been an important source of livelihood for Katwijk aan Zee. As early as the Middle Ages people from Katwijk headed out to sea to go fishing. In the absence of a harbour, the Katwijk fishermen used flat-bottomed ships that could be launched from the beach. The first ship of this type was the so-called pink (fishing smack), from which the larger bomschuit evolved after 1830. As fishing did not always bring in enough money to make a living, some fishermen found an alternative income in the cargo trade or even through smuggling.

Development of fishing vessels

In 1857 the ban on gibbing (i.e. the process of preparing salt herrings), which was installed in 1751 for the fishing villages along the Dutch coast (the so-called Zijde, which included Katwijk, Scheveningen, Noordwijk and Egmond), was lifted. From then on, fishing gradually became a flourishing industry and the fleet grew from around 30 vessels in 1850 to about 70 in 1900. These boats mainly fished for herring, often as far north as the Shetland Islands, using a so-called vleet (a long driftnet, consisting of sometimes over a hundred interconnected nets, floating vertically in the water). Vleet fishing proved extremely effective in catching massive hauls of herring. In the period 1895-1915, after the introduction of the sailing lugger (a new type of fishing boat with excellent sailing qualities), the plump bomschuit was phased out entirely. However, as these new luggers were keel vessels, a harbour was required. In Scheveningen, after the construction of its harbour in 1904, replacing the bomschuiten was relatively simple, but for Katwijk, lacking a harbour, this was not so easy. It meant that fishermen from Katwijk had to use the harbours of IJmuiden, Vlaardingen or Maassluis, using inland fishing vessels to transport cargo to and from the harbour, while the crew travelled by train, truck or bus. Still, the Katwijk fleet too had to switch from bomschuiten to luggers and it continued to grow, reaching its peak in 1916 with about 130 sailing vessels.

Skippers/owners

The inter-war period was a difficult time for the fishing industry. During the crisis years several shipping companies went bankrupt, as a result of which quite a number of vessels were laid up. At the same time, though, the remaining companies invested in their fleet and equipped their sailing luggers with engines, which made them less dependent on the wind. Part of the laid-up fleet was sold to skippers who wanted to start their own business, who thus became the first of the so-called ‘skippers/owners’. The remaining vessels ended up in Scandinavia, where they were deployed as cargo vessels

The post-war years

During the years of occupation part of the fleet was requisitioned, but some of these ships returned to service after the war. The early post-war years yielded great results for the fishing industry. Both the fleet and the processing of fish were modernised, and the herring was increasingly caught by motor trawlers that were introduced from 1955 onwards. The traditional method of catching herring by means of vleet nets gradually fell into decline, owing to a lack of crew members for the often obsolete vessels. By 1965 this form of fishery had virtually disappeared altogether. This also meant that related activities, such as the transport by inland vessels, the use of the wantveld (a flat area in the dunes where nets were dried and mended), and the net-mending women, etc. also disappeared.

No fishing harbour in Katwijk

The group of skippers/owners was growing rapidly after 1950: anybody who felt up to it, could start his own business. By 1965 the Katwijk fleet had grown to over 180 vessels, despite the absence of a sea harbour in Katwijk. Various attempts were made to convince the Dutch government to allow the construction of a harbour, and in 1950 a group of shipowners even went to The Hague to convince Prime Minister Drees of its importance. All to no avail. IJmuiden definitively became Katwijk’s home port. Yet, in 1963 another attempt was made, which was futile as well. Although the number of Katwijk vessels was decreasing drastically after 1970, Katwijk was still regarded as an important fishing village. When IJmuiden’s Staatsvissershavenbedrijf (i.e. state-owned fishing port company) was privatised, the Municipality of Katwijk took a share in the newly created Port, thus confirming that IJmuiden had been the home port of the Katwijk fleet for many years.

Today, for part of Katwijk’s population fishing is still the primary livelihood. The fleet may have shrunk to about 10 modern vessels, but the increasing number of boys and girls in Katwijk opting for a training at a fishery school shows that there is still fisherman’s blood running through Katwijk’s veins and makes it likely that Katwijk will keep producing well-trained fishermen in the future.

Maritime

The museum has an extensive maritime archive, constantly added to and updated by a team of enthusiastic volunteers. They collect photographs, newspaper cuttings, muster-books and such like, relating to Katwijk’s maritime past, on topics such as fisheries, inland shipping, whaling and the merchant navy. If you have any questions or have any information or material that would be of interest to the archive, every Monday evening our volunteers are happy to receive you in the museum. You can also contact them by email via maritiem@katwijksmuseum.nl