Voices from the Shoreline

For generations, coastal fishermen, working at the very fringe between land and sea, have fished salmon and herring using methods passed down from father to son. Some of these ancient traditions have been traced back as far as the days when the men from Scandinavia colonised these lands in the eighth and ninth centuries; others are simply nineteenth century in origin.

Sadly, in recent years stocks have dwindled and regulations limit local fishing practices. Today, some surviving methods, such as haaf-netting, are in danger of dying out, whilst other traditional fisheries now lie abandoned. Though herring stocks have recovered from their late twentieth-century decline, the Atlantic salmon is now under immense threat and more danger of extinction than ever before.

Tracing and describing his own journey from North Devon, through Wales and up to the top of Scotland, along with interviews with many fishermen, both retired and working, Mike Smylie explores the social history of these indigenous fishing traditions and communities, presenting a picture of their lives, past, present and future.

Auteur

MIKE SMYLIE is a maritime historian specialising in the fishing industry. He has written widely on the subject for many books and magazines. He is a founder member of the 40+ Fishing Boat association and edits their thrice-yearly newsletter Fishing Boats.

Texte du rabat

The Atlantic salmon is an amazing creature: its migration from birth river to Greenland and then back to spawn in the same spot it was born continues to amaze us. The vast shoals of herring make their migration equally amazing, and while salmon are often reliable in their patterns of behavior, herring can vary their migrations without warning. For generations, those fishers who specialize in these coastal fish have passed their methods down throughout their close communities; today, some methods, such as haaf netting, are in danger of dying out. And while herring stocks collapsed in the second half of the twentieth century but now seem to have recovered, the Atlantic salmon is in more danger of extinction than it has ever been. This detailed study, along Britain's coastal fringes rather than out to sea, is an important social history of these ingenious fishing traditions and communities, presenting a picture of their lives, past and present.