ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the role of the state in building a Danish fishing industry in the interwar period. The analysis centres on the different modernisation strategies that developed in and around the fisheries sector in response to structural and economic crises. The fisheries organisations favoured a conservative approach. The industrialists preferred a more hard-line expansionist policy. This study analyses the conflicting discourses and their outcome. It demonstrates how the state, mainly in the form of Social Democratic-led government, adopted industrialists’ ideas and took upon itself to develop the fisheries sector, through establishing commissions, committees and underpinning institutions. Furthermore, it illustrates how these entities helped the fishing industry to grow, by means of regulatory measures and knowledge building.
