Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1979, Page 24

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Land Tenure, Fowling Rights, and Sharing o£ the Catch
a piece of land always belongs to one or more owners. Quarrels
about rights therefore often concentrate on the borderline be-
tween the sea and the land. Thus, the owner of a fowling cliff
may claim that the birds swimming and diving on the sea
below the cliffs actually belong to him, because they breed
and raise their young on his property. This principle seems to
lie behind the earliest protection act, which can be seen in a
document, read at the várting in 1741:
»Before the court appeared the respected Johannes Simon-
sen, delegated by the men of Sørvágur, and had the fowling
under the cliffs of Sørvágur preserved. These are common,
and no non-resident shall lay his fowling net upon land to
catch big fowl or shoot on land where the fowl is sitting or
on the sea when it is close to the land where it shall ascend.
Neither shall he be allowed to walk on their land for big
fowl or for shag, unless he be so allowed by the men of Sør-
vágur.«
This point of view has been upheld in modern legislation as
it is prohibited to shoot within a distance of three nautical
miles from a protected fowling cliff (and all fowling cliffs
are protected).
The cited document elucidates a first principle of land te-
nure, as it is evident that Sørvágur, i. e. the men of Sørvágur,
own their fowling cliffs. The expression »lay fowling net on
land to catch big fowl« refers to the fowling method called
»taka hellufugl« (see above) and »big fowl« refers to the
guillemot. Thus, ownership of fowling cliffs is clearly demar-
cated between neighbour villages, and a score of registered
documents ban non-residents.
Ownership of fowling and the concomitant fowling rights
in relation to individuals vary widely through the Faroes, and
as can be documented, they have changed with time. The
changes can be seen explicitly from documents in the archives,
and implicitly from a study of other sources, e. g. census lists,
taxation protocols etc.