Thorupstrand at Jutland

Sustainable fishing is there any thing like that?

I learned a lot during a visit to Thorupstrand at the Danish West Coast. Things I never thought about very much before. Like the importance of sustainable fishing, the way they fish here is close to the most original way to fishing there is. It is way better than when they use big ships that takes up everything in their way.

At Thorupstrand most fishing boats are owned by the community. In 2006 the quotas of fishing boats were assigned by the Danish state. The quotas were given to the fishermen based on their catch the current year. After that there was a hard time for fishers all over Denmark as they always had split the income from the catch in the past. When they changed the quotas everything changed so that only some fishers owned the boats, and others became employees and didn’t earn as much as before. As it was hard to come by these quotas, they were sold to a very high price. At this time the fishers in Thorupstrand decided to start a guild to make sure that everyone had the possibility to fish and earn money just like before. So now every fisher in the community decides every year how much he wants to fish, and pays just for the quotas he wants to use. There are in-between 120-150 persons that are working to take up the fish, and they work in total 20 persons at a time. All the fish goes on a cool line to stay fresh. Tina Andersen is the only female fisher at Thorupstrand. She owns a boat with her husband. As well as a fisher woman she is also a talented elite runner! Meeting her I felt so lazy! As well as fishing boats at the beach, you can go there to swim or have an ice cream up the road. The place looks like a pretty painting! Pipsen brought me along to Han Herred Havbåde. It is an association that both builds ships, and a coast cultural centre. The 140 volunteers can use the boats.

It takes 1,5 year to build a ship and costs about 7 million Danish kroner. If you already have a steering hut and some other parts then you land on 5 Million Danish kroner. It might sound a lot, but a boat can be used for 30-40 years!

To build new boats they use oak tree as it is sustainable, and you can renew pieces if it is needed. An amazing 5500 bolts are used for one boat! They are open to the public every now and then, email for the opening hours.

Text and photo Malin Nordblom

Fab Foodie Swede

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