Fishing in Cornwall

Fishing in Cornwall, England, UK, has traditionally been one of the main elements of the economy of the county.

The industry has featured in numerous works of art, particularly by Stanhope Forbes and other Newlyn School artists.

History

Early history

The beginnings of a significant fishery in Cornwall may be traced to the reign of

In 1847 the exports of pilchards from Cornwall amounted to 40,883 hogsheads or 122 million fish, while the greatest number ever taken in one seine was 5,600 hogsheads at St Ives in 1868.^[5]

The most important fishing ports on the north coast were St Ives, which had a considerable fleet^[6] and Padstow. A. K. Hamilton Jenkin describes how the St Ives fisherman strictly observed Sunday as a day of rest. St Ives was a very busy fishing port, and seining was the usual method of fishing there. Seining was carried on by a set of three boats of different sizes, the largest two carrying seine nets of different sizes. The total number of crew was 17 or 18. However this came to an end in 1924. The bulk of the catch was exported to Italy: for example in 1830 6,400 hogsheads were sent to Mediterranean ports. From 1829 to 1838 the yearly average for this trade was 9,000 hogsheads. One remarkable catch at St Ives was of one thousand hogsheads in three seine nets, approximately 2,400,000 fish in all.^[7]

In 1870 the

A new harbour was built at St Agnes in 1798 which supported a fishing industry and allowed for the export of copper ore and the import of coal from South Wales for the smelters at the mines. In 1802, a pilchard fishing industry was established from the harbour at St Agnes, reaching its peak in 1829 and 1830 before declining.^[10] St Agnes remained a busy port until the collapse of the harbour wall in a storm in 1915/16. There are only remains of the old harbour in existence.^[10][11][12]

Up to the early 20th century,

On the north east coast the harbours are generally smaller and Port Isaac, Port Quin (now deserted), Bossiney and Boscastle have relied on fishing, though there is a larger harbour at Bude. In the eighteenth century there was a small unprotected tidal harbour at Bude, but it was difficult whenever the sea was up. The Bude Canal Company built a canal and improved the harbour. Nowadays around twenty small boats use the tidal moorings of the original harbour during the summer months. Most are sport fishermen, but there is also some small-scale, semi-commercial, fishing for crab and lobster.

South coast, western

The principal industry in Newlyn is fishing, and the town relies upon its harbour. Newlyn's history has been strongly linked to its role as a major fishing port. The natural protection afforded by the Gwavas Lake (an area of seawater in Mount's Bay) led to many local fishermen using this area as a preferred landing site."The Harbour". Retrieved 27 March 2009.. Newlyn harbour is first recorded in 1435 by the Bishop of Exeter; later large scale improvements to the harbour led to Newlyn becoming the predominant fishing port in Mount's Bay. Newlyn harbour is the largest deep sea fishing port in England in terms of the value of fish landed (turnover >£18 million 2004) and contributes 2% of the region's GDP.^[13] The Newlyn fleet utilises a variety of catching methods, however, the vessels are comparatively small and mostly owned by their skippers in comparison with the large factory boats of Spain and France with whom they share their fishing grounds. Accusations of illegal overfishing by the French and Spanish fleets is a source of local friction. Until the 1960s, pilchards were the major catch landed at Newlyn, which were processed at the nearby pilchard works, before the fish fell out of favour with the public. A revival of pilchard fishing in Penwith in recent years occurred after a rebranding exercise as Cornish sardines^[14] (sardines are actually small pilchards). This has been helped by investment from the Objective One programme. Much of the catch is sold abroad in Spain and Italy.

The Cornish hake fishery, based at Newlyn Harbour, has now been deemed as "sustainable and well-managed". Stocks were left depleted in the 1990s, but now Cornish hake numbers have recovered to nearly double their low point. This turn-around has been achieved through the use of nets with larger mesh size than the legal requirement which allow the smaller juveniles to swim free, leaving more fish to reproduce.^[15] Porthleven known locally as ‘Port’ had its harbour built by French prisoners of war after the wreck of HMS Anson. Porthleven was already a typical fishing village that evolved to become a major port in the area for the import of all building material and coal and export of China clay. Boat building also evolved in Porthleven and became important to that industry. The boat builders, net makers and fish merchants are now gone but the fishing grounds still support a small fleet of privately owned boats.

In the Helford River oyster fishing has been carried on though pollution has disrupted this. At Port Navas is the Duchy Oyster Farm and the oyster fishery in the River is expanding.^{[citation needed]} In the 19th and 20th century, Flushing's economy mainly relied upon fishing, farming and Falmouth Docks; there are now only a few commercial fishing vessels based in the village.

The current harbour at Mevagissey was built on the site of a medieval quay. The first Act of Parliament allowing the new port to be built was passed in 1774. The inner harbour, consisting of the current East and West Quays was constructed from this time. An outer harbour was added in 1888, but seriously damaged in a blizzard in 1891. The outer walls were rebuilt by 1897. The harbour was given charitable trust status in 1988. There are currently 63 registered fishing vessels in the harbour worked by 69 fishermen. The harbour also offers tourist fishing trips and there is a regular summer passenger ferry to Fowey.

South coast, eastern

At Looe an early wooden bridge over the Looe river was in place by 1411^[citation needed] which burned down and was replaced by the first stone bridge, completed in 1436 and featuring a chapel dedicated to St Anne in the middle (the current bridge, a seven-arched Victorian bridge, was opened in 1853). By this time Looe had become a major port, one of Cornwall's largest, exporting local tin, arsenic and granite, as well as hosting thriving fishing and boatbuilding industries. The town provided some 20 ships for the siege of Calais in 1347. Looe remains a fishing town, and several fish dealers operate from the docks of East Looe. With its fleet of small fishing boats returning their catches to port daily, Looe has a reputation for producing excellent fresh fish. The town is also a centre for shark fishing, and is the home of the Shark Angling Club of Great Britain.^[17]

Lobster hatchery

The

Local culture

Customs and events

There is a tradition of holding celebrations associated with fishing, such as the Falmouth Oyster Festival and Newlyn Fish Festival.

In fishing communities a dance or "

Superstitions found among fishermen are numerous. They consider it unlucky to mention rabbits or hares, nor should dogs be taken on board. At Mousehole the same applied to cats. This superstition of Cornish fishermen is mentioned by Carew in his Survey (1602). Mention of various land animals among fishermen in Britain was traditionally taboo. Another superstition relates to clergymen, nuns and church towers. Seeing one of the first two was regarded as unlucky; at Mousehole and Newlyn respectively priests were called "white-chokers" and "fore-and-afters". A church tower was called a "cleeta" or "steeple" as the use of "church" was held to result in bad fishing; the churches of St Buryan and Paul were called "tower" and that of Cury was called "town".^[19]

Drama and verse

• Graffiti outside the South Crofty workings:

Cornish lads are fishermen and Cornish lads are miners too. But when the fish and tin are gone, what are the Cornish boys to do?

• Many of the plays and other works of Nick Darke, who himself fished for lobsters, are concerned with fishing in Cornwall.

Food and drink

A traditional Cornish pilchard dish is stargazy pie or starry gazy pie.

Traditional local measurements

Cornish warp – 4 fish; Cornish burn – 21 fish; Cornish hundred – 132 fish; Cornish mease – 505 herring; Cornish cran – 800 herring; Cornish long hundred – 8 times 120+5 fish; Cornish last – 132,000 fish; Cornish ounce – 16th part (of either a seine of fish or property)^[20]

Films

Johnny Frenchman, a 1945 British film directed by Charles Frend, was a story of rivalry between Cornish and Breton fishermen. The film's exterior sequences were shot in the Cornish fishing port of Mevagissey.

Gallery

• 
  Aerial view of Newlyn Harbour
• 
  Distant view of Newlyn Harbour
• 
  A boat and lobster pots at Penberth Cove
• 
  A Tremaen pottery fish dish (dishes decorated with hand-painted fish were made at the pottery)

References