Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1979, Page 34

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Lanđ Tenure, Fowling Rights, and Sharing of the Catch
possibilities vary with wind and weather so that the year’s
catch in a fowling place may vary considerably and unpredict-
ably. In several villages there were regulations to meet such
inequalities:
In the island of Nólsoy the lundaland was divided into
fourths, and a village agreement from 1793 says that the usage
of these four parts rotate so that those men who use one fourth
in one year shall use another fourth the next year, and so on.
In Hattarvík on Fugloy the lundaland was divided into
three parts, and fleyging rights rotated so that one party
fowled the same third every third year. (In the other village
of the island the land was divided into eighths, and certain
fowling places were allocated to each eighth. There was no
rotation). On the uninhabitated island of Lítla Dímun which
belongs to the village of Hvalba, two different equalization
measures were simultaneously in use. As mentioned previously,
the fleyging of puffin is performed from special sites called
sessir. Hvalba is divided into thirds, and the owners of each
third would spend 7 days in the island before being replaced
by men from another third, etc. There was rotation as to which
third would start the season on July 2nd of each year. On the
other hand, the young of the fulmar are taken from their nests
during a few days only in late August, and because the season
is so short everybody goes together to the island, which is
divided into three, almost equal parts. The men of each third
fowled one third of the island and there was a yearly clock-
wise rotation; the men of each third would fowl the same
third of the island every third year.
Thus, a temporal as well as a topographical rotation was at
work equalizing fowling chances.
On Skúvoy the number of sessir for fowling puffins is limi-
ted. Any owner may occupy a sessur in the early morning and
start fowling at dawn. However, activities were stopped by a
sign from one of the fowlers, and the total catch was divided
among the participants — after payment of one third of the
catch as landpartur or owner’s share. There was one exception