This investigation encompasses three coastal communities in North Norw
ay. They are all associated to varying degrees with the cod fisheries
in the Lofoten Islands, and comparisons among them reveal how this fis
hing created various types of household organization. However, difficu
lties arise because it is not the fisherman, but rather the fisherman-
farmer that is typical in the region. Concealed in this combination of
livelihoods is a life-cycle pattern: youths participated very activel
y in fishing, adults less so and the elderly hardly at all. The househ
olds of the traditional full-time fishermen were small and simple in s
tructure. The households of fishermen-farmers were larger and more com
plex. The organization of labor in the fisheries cut across household
boundaries. Only during the final decade of the period investigated ar
e full-time fishermen distinguishable to any significant degree in the
three local communities. At the same time differences in household st
ructure begin to rapidly level out.