page_title: Little Belt
section_title: Porpoise hunting
hierarchical_section_title: Little Belt / History / Porpoise hunting
caption_attribution_description: Dansk: Marsvinefangst Gamborg Fjord
context_page_description: The Little Belt is a strait between the island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish Straits that drain and connect the Baltic Sea to the Kattegat strait, which drains west to the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
context_section_description: From the Middle Ages until the end of the 19th century, local fishermen were also involved in harbour porpoise hunting. Harbor porpoises winter in Danish waterways, and fishermen would wait in the narrow parts of the belt and drive them to the shallows where they would be slaughtered. Porpoise oil, a type of whale oil, was in widespread use as a lamp oil until the spread of electric lighting undermined the porpoise hunting economy. In the winter of 1854-55, 1,742 porpoises were captured, but otherwise, the catch from most winters was around 700-800 porpoises. Porpoise hunting was regulated by laws dating to at least 1593. The law was overturned by a royal resolution on May 4, 1899, although shortages during World War I and II caused short-lived resurgences in porpoise hunting.
caption: 19th century harbour porpoise catch in Gamborg Fjord
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