ABSTRACT
Introduction By 1930, Iceland and Norway had become two of the largest fishing nations in Europe whose fish production was overwhelmingly geared towards exports. As other primary producers dependent on foreign markets, they were especially hard hit during the Great Depression because of falling demand and drastically reduced prices. The cases of Iceland and Norway offer an interesting example of how primary producers in the European periphery responded to the economic crisis of the 1930s. This chapter compares the two countries and focuses on both public policy and actions within the fisheries. Given the similarities between the two fisheries in terms of production mix, the structure of the industry and their position in the world market, one would expect a high degree of concurrence in policy responses between the two countries. But, despite similarities, the two nations responded differently to the crisis in many respects. The key divergence was that Norway favoured a more resolutely protectionist policy than Iceland. This chapter analyses the impact the severe economic difficulties had on the fishing sector, and how and why the responses in the two countries differed.
