fishing industry

fishing industry. Historically, seafood was an important part of people's diet and fishing was a long-established activity round Britain's coasts, complementing subsistence farming or crofting, and providing livelihoods to sea-going communities. Britain was well favoured for the development of a large-scale fishing trade, located in one of the most prolific sectors of the European continental shelf, with seas of moderate depth readily fished for herring, haddock, pilchard, and cod by small vessels. It was also fortunate that the annual movement of herring round the coast worked greatly to the advantage of fisherfolk, giving opportunities for catches everywhere at some time of the year.

By the 17th cent. fish had become a growing item of trade, especially for the Scots and Irish, but the wealth of the offshore grounds also benefited the Dutch, who were active mainly in the North Sea. Indeed the competition of the Dutch caused much alarm and encouraged government policy to promote native fisheries still further, notably in Scotland under the Board of Trustees for Fisheries and Manufactures, established in 1727. Although bounties (or grants) were offered on vessels fitted out for herring fishing, other legislation on fishing practices and the high duty on salt needed for curing handicapped expansion. The establishment of the British Fisheries Society in 1786 coincided with a new attitude. Bounties were promised on herring catches and on fish exports and the Salt Laws were relaxed soon after in favour of the fisherman.

During the 19th cent. the fishing industry experienced dramatic expansion and by the 1850s the herring fishery on the east coast was the largest in Europe. The fishing population and communities grew accordingly, with Lowestoft, Hull, and Aberdeen the main fishing ports. As with agricultural produce the growth of the market for fresh fish coincided with the development of the railways and of refrigeration and these encouraged the introduction of steam trawling, initially in inshore waters, after 1880. Deep-sea fishing had meantime been pioneered by whalers working out of British ports, including Hull and Dundee.

By 1914 the industry was large scale, capital intensive, and, despite an important domestic market, much dependent on foreign exports. It experienced the same painful adjustment to changing circumstances as other industries during the depression. Falling prices and deteriorating equipment were the main problems, so that by 1939 the industry had shrunk from its peak at the turn of the century. Herring fishing never regained its previous significance, even when revitalization ultimately came after 1945, and white fishing became the mainstay of the industry.

As stocks were progressively exhausted through over-fishing, access to fishing grounds became a major source of conflict between Britain and other nations, especially with Iceland to the north and Spain to the south. Relations between Britain and Iceland reached crisis point during a series of ‘cod wars’ in the 1960s and the fishing of southern waters by Spain was a continuing grievance of the Cornish industry. The European Community and its successor, the European Union, as well as national governments, attempted to regulate catches through quota systems and the Common Fisheries Policy, but not without sustained resistance from the fishing industry. Whaling was abandoned on environmental and conservation grounds. Rising prices made fish-farming in inshore waters more viable and since the 1970s this has become an increasingly important source of supply and export earnings, especially at the luxury end of the market.

Ian Donnachie