RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Freshwater Fishing Strategies in Early Modern Sami Households JF Arctic Anthropology JO Arctic Anthropol FD University of Wisconsin Press SP 197 OP 211 DO 10.3368/aa.57.2.197 VO 57 IS 2 A1 Jesper Larsson A1 Eva-Lotta Päiviö Sjaunja YR 2021 UL http://aa.uwpress.org/content/57/2/197.abstract AB Fish were absolutely necessary for survival for many households in preindustrial societies. Because fishing waters are considered a common-pool resource, it is difficult to exclude users, and the catch is subtractable. To learn what strategies were in place to avoid fish-stock depletion and secure continuous harvests, we investigated how Indigenous Sami households in Lule lappmark, Sweden, used low-productive freshwaters between 1660 and 1780. Our aim is to show how they conducted fishing and how it was linked to rules for fishing. Our sources are contemporary 17th- and 18th-century accounts and local court rulings. Rules for fishing were developed in a self-governance context. Users and fishing areas were well defined, and users often had exclusive rights to fish. Inheritance was important but not a sufficient prerequisite to obtain access. Our research covers a period during which abundant but low-yield fishing waters per household declined, making it more difficult to survive.