By Elizabeth McQuillan
While the Scottish fisherman of 7000 BC messed about in rudimentary boats with the purpose of procuring fish and crustaceans to feed his extended family, the value of a good fish supper – and the ability to generate cash through sales – was not lost on his descendants.
Fish became a valuable commodity in medieval times, with salmon gracing the tables of the population and herring being transported to the continental market. Wherever there was a House of God, they took it upon themselves to issue fishing rights and collect their dues in fish and cash from the local fishermen.
With the growth of the population in towns and cities, so did the fishing communities and villages develop to service the needs of the hungry pescophiles. The Crown, and later governments, offered incentives to encourage the fishermen to risk their lives to deliver their catch.
Licences were granted to catch and market fish, and cash incentives were offered to build bigger and better boats. However, competition from the Norwegians in the 18th century – with their historically formidable and admirable seafaring credentials – and from the Dutch, was crushing, due to more developed and more intensive fishing methods. We were left holding a damp squid, while they hauled in the bounty.
Things did move on with the arrival of the herring boom in the early 19th century, however. The government doled out cash sums of £3 per ton to fishermen with boats greater than 60 tons and paid an extra bounty for all herring sold abroad.
During their summer feeding, and the spawning migration, the main stock of herring came from their wintering grounds near the Norwegian coast. This migratory path took them close by the Shetland and Orkney islands before they continued along the east coast of Scotland.
This meant the fish were within easy striking distance for the Scottish fishermen and their driftnets. The fishermen could use smaller and cheaper boats than the Dutch would have to, and the catch could easily be brought ashore for curing. Considered a delicacy on the continent, the oily fish had to be quickly cured to prevent them rotting.
The fisherman would agree "contracts" with the curers on shore to take their catch through the season at an agreed price.
The herring, or "silver darlings" as they were called, were indeed bringing cash into Scotland. The emergence of a rail network also meant that the catch could quickly be transported and deployed where it was required, so huge quantities could be sold. The Fishery Board was set up to oversee and inspect the cure.
Teams of three women – fisher lasses – would perform the gutting of the fish, two gutting while the other packed the fish in salt and placed them in the barrels. From fishing villages around Scotland, these girls would begin their career at 15, and travelled throughout the herring season to do their job. The inspectors would stamp a distinctive crown brand on the top of the barrel when satisfied with the quality of the gutted, packed and cured herring.
According to the Scottish Fisheries Museum, at the peak of the herring boom in 1907, 2,500,000 barrels of fish (250,000 tons) were cured and exported, the main markets being Germany, Eastern Europe and Russia. In 1913, there were over 10,000 boats involved in the Scottish herring industry.
The industry was no longer local or seasonal, since the boats followed the shoals around the coast of Britain – and along with them there followed an army of curers, merchants, general hands and the herring lasses.
With the arrival of world war one, fishermen were drafted into the Navy, and the industry began to decline. This was followed closely by world war two. By the time men were coming back to work within the fishing industry, technology meant that boats were far more efficient and able to work with fewer men on board. At this point the fishing industry changed dramatically, and the number of people involved dropped dramatically.
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