Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1979, Page 28

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Land Tenure, Fowling Rights, and Sharing of the Catch
sented, e. g. in Mykines and Sørvágur. In Sørvágur, one lunda-
land called Lambaeggjar is joint property. The same applies
to Lambi on Mykines, which is not mentioned in the Taxati-
onsprotokol. However, one lundasessur called Eggin í Múla
is rightly registered as joint property.
Thus Mykines and Sørvágur have very similar ownership
patterns. It might be worth mentioning that there are close
ties between these two villages, as the inhabitants of Mykines
usually landed in Sørvágur, when communicating with the rest
of the Faroes. In both villages birds caught undir oynni (i. e.
along the shore from boat) are free.
On Mykines we find the only breeding place of the gannet
in the Faroes. The gannet colony is joint property and the
catch is shared according to land tenure.
In cases mentioned joint ownership was acknowledged by
the catch being divided among the owners in proportion to
each owner’s share of village land. This is in sharp contrast
to common ownership as found in some villages: A document
from 1755 says that on the island of Fugloy the young of the
shag may be taken by anyone, and right up to modern times
anyone may go fowling in a certain large urð (talus or scree)
in Skarðsvík which is owned in common by the island’s two
villages. On the island of Hestur no share must be laid off
to the owners of the land (landpartur, owner’s share) when-
ever the catch took place from a boat, be it hellufuglur, oman-
fleyg or even fowling of puffin in the screes at the foot of
the cliffs. Although any inhabitant of the island might prac-
tise these methods of fowling, fowling by non-residents was
banned.
Compensation
The Faroese landscape changes continously, though slowly.
Landslides may cause slight or major changes in the fowling
cliffs — more especially so because the fowling cliffs are them-
selves a product of the eroding forces of sea and wind. There
are numerous tales and documented accounts of landslides