A Glimpse at the Herring Fishery

From the 1880s onwards the herring fishery off the south west coast of Devon and Cornwall reached epic proportions. Herring was salted for preservation and shipped to countries like Italy. Some of the sailing trawlers were part of the Eastern fleet from Lowestoft in Suffolk so LT instead of PL for Plymouth and they would spend the winter in the waters off the South West of England. The sail trawler was known as a Ketch or a Cutter depending on its size and its rigs or sails.

The fleet would land its catch on Fisheries Quay on the Barbican in Plymouth. A new fish market was built there in 1892. Herring is a North Sea winter fishery and sardines and pilchards, part of the herring family were also in abundance at this time. The herring fishery collapsed in 1930 and has never recovered to the same level in the UK as it has in nordic countries where they are still eaten salted, smoked or pickled. The British eat this oily fish as a kipper rather than a rollmop. Fluctuations in sea temperature or overfishing may have been to blame for the decline. Atlantic herring prefer colder waters but sardines have adapted to warmer waters and have made a mini comeback in Cornwall.