Haaf net fishing

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Haaf net fishermen walking out across the mudflats to fish in the Solway Firth Haaf Net Fishermen, Solway Estuary - geograph.org.uk - 612827.jpg
Haaf net fishermen walking out across the mudflats to fish in the Solway Firth

Haaf net fishing is an ancient type of salmon and sea trout net fishing practised in Britain, and is particularly associated with the Solway Firth, the estuary forming part of the border between England and Scotland. The technique involves fishermen standing chest-deep in the sea and using large submerged framed nets to scoop up fish that swim towards them. It is a form of fishing that is believed to have been brought to Britain by the Vikings more than a thousand years ago and to have been practised in the Solway Firth since then.

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The number of haaf net fishermen has dwindled over the last 50 years and the activity has been restricted by salmon conservation measures. The haaf net fishing community has campaigned for exemptions from these restrictions and for protection as an ancient cultural activity.

Etymology and history

Haaf net fishing is a type of salmon and sea trout fishing [1] which is practised in South West Scotland and North West England. [2] The word haaf is derived from the Old Norse for “open sea”. [3] The technique has its origins in the Viking Age. [4] It is believed to have been brought to Scotland by the Vikings around 900 A.D. [5] In the 1870s, one of the government's Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries, Spencer Walpole, reported that haaf net fishing was taking place in the estuaries of the Lune and Ribble in Lancashire, and in the Severn Estuary in South West England. [6]

Haaf fishing nets Haaf nets - panoramio.jpg
Haaf fishing nets

Haaf net fishing is now unique to the Solway Firth, where it has been practised for over a thousand years. [1] [7] [8] There are similarities with lave net fishing, practised in the Severn estuary, where the fishermen stand waste deep in the water with large Y-shaped nets. However, unlike lave netters, haaf net fishermen remain stationary in the water. [9]

In the 1970s, there were over 100 haaf net fishermen based in towns such as Annan or Gretna making a good living. From the 1980s, the economics of fishing with haaf nets meant that numbers have significantly reduced with only 30 individuals currently practising the technique. [5]

On the Scottish side of the Firth, since 2016, the Scottish Government has introduced salmon conservation measures resulting in haaf net fishermen being required to release alive any salmon they catch. [5] The English side of the Firth is regulated by the Environment Agency which, after a consultation process, introduced similar restrictions in 2018. [10] [11]

As a consequence, the Solway’s haaf net community believes the survival of their traditions is threatened and is seeking exemptions from these requirements and official recognition that haaf netting should be protected as a culturally important and historic activity. [5] [12] In response, Marine Scotland, the Scottish Government agency responsible for fish conservation, has said that the issue is that the salmon stocks of the Firth of Solway feed into rivers with differing levels of salmon sustainability and some of the rivers have low levels. Because the Firth is therefore classified as a “mixed stock fishery”, they cannot permit retention of any salmon caught. [12]

Equipment and technique

The net used has the appearance of a giant butterfly net. [13] It is set in a rectangular wooden frame usually about 4–5 metres (13–16 ft) long and 2 metres (6.6 ft) wide supported by three legs. A central pole extends from one of the longer edges at a right angle. [4] [5]

Haaf net fishing is practised by the fishermen wading out into the sea. In the Solway Firth, this can mean walking out over mudflats for up to one mile. Once in the sea, they position themselves and wait for the tide to ebb or flood. The depth of the water can be up to chest height. [5] [14]

The technique involves the haaf net being submerged in the water, while the fisherman holds it upright with the central pole. When a salmon swims into the net the fisherman tilts the pole backwards to scoop the net upwards, thereby trapping the fish. [4] The fisherman then kills the fish by clubbing it. [14]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing</span> Activity of trying to catch fish

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques include hand-gathering, spearing, netting, angling, shooting and trapping, as well as more destructive and often illegal techniques such as electrocution, blasting and poisoning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solway Firth</span> Firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland

The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very near to the firth. The firth comprises part of the Irish Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fisherman</span> Person who takes fish and sells or trade it

A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catch and release</span> Method of Fishing used for environmental or conservation reasons

Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing where after capture, often a fast measurement and weighing of the fish is performed, followed by posed photography as proof of the catch, and then the fish are unhooked and returned live to the water. Using barbless hooks, it is often possible to release the fish without removing it from the water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recreational fishing</span> Fishing as a hobby

Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing for survival and livelihood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillnetting</span> Type of fishing net

Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is generally referred to as a "cork line." The line along the bottom of the panels is generally weighted. Traditionally this line has been weighted with lead and may be referred to as "lead line." A gillnet is normally set in a straight line. Gillnets can be characterized by mesh size, as well as colour and type of filament from which they are made. Fish may be caught by gillnets in three ways:

  1. Wedged – held by the mesh around the body.
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  3. Tangled – held by teeth, spines, maxillaries, or other protrusions without the body penetrating the mesh.
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Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often pursue fish far into the ocean under adverse conditions. Large-scale commercial fishing is called industrial fishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing net</span> Net used for fishing

A fishing net is a net used for fishing. Some fishing nets are also called fish traps, for example fyke nets. Fishing nets are usually meshes formed by knotting a relatively thin thread. Early nets were woven from grasses, flaxes and other fibrous plant material. Later cotton was used. Modern nets are usually made of artificial polyamides like nylon, although nets of organic polyamides such as wool or silk thread were common until recently and are still used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drift netting</span> Fishing technique

Drift netting is a fishing technique where nets, called drift nets, hang vertically in the water column without being anchored to the bottom. The nets are kept vertical in the water by floats attached to a rope along the top of the net and weights attached to another rope along the bottom of the net. Drift nets generally rely on the entanglement properties of loosely affixed netting. Folds of loose netting, much like a window drapery, snag on a fish's tail and fins and wrap the fish up in loose netting as it struggles to escape. However, the nets can also function as gill nets if fish are captured when their gills get stuck in the net. The size of the mesh varies depending on the fish being targeted. These nets usually target schools of pelagic fish.

The Scottish east coast fishery has been in existence for more than a thousand years, spanning the Viking Age right up to the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry in Scotland</span> Aquaculture and marine catching in the UK countrt

The fishing industry in Scotland comprises a significant proportion of the United Kingdom fishing industry. A recent inquiry by the Royal Society of Edinburgh found fishing to be of much greater social, economic and cultural importance to Scotland than it is relative to the rest of the UK. Scotland has just 8.4 per cent of the UK population but lands at its ports over 60 per cent of the total catch in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental impact of fishing</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing techniques</span> Methods for catching sea creatures, especially fish

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of fishing</span>

Fishing is a prehistoric practice dating back at least 70,000 years. Since the 16th century, fishing vessels have been able to cross oceans in pursuit of fish, and since the 19th century it has been possible to use larger vessels and in some cases process the fish on board. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping.

This page is a list of fishing topics.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fishing:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hand net</span> Type of fishing net

A hand net, also called a scoop net, is a handheld fishing net or meshed basket used to capture and retrieve objects from water, somewhat in the manner of a sieve. It is distinguished from other fishing nets in that the net or mesh is supported by a rigid circular or polygonal frame, which may or may not be mounted to the end of a handle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Cree</span>

The River Cree is a river in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland which runs through Newton Stewart and into the Solway Firth. It forms part of the boundary between the counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. The tributaries of the Cree are the Minnoch, Trool, Penkiln and Palnure which drain from the Range of the Awful Hand, the labyrinthine range of mountains and lochs, bogs, burns and crags, rising at its highest to The Merrick, Galloway, 12 miles north and visible from Newton Stewart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lave net</span>

A lave net is a type of fishing net used in river estuaries, particularly in the Severn Estuary in Wales and England to catch salmon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelton Harbour and Village</span> Architectural structure in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK

Kelton Harbour and Village (NX988708) are located on the East side of the River Nith opposite the Kirkconnell Merse, about 3.5 miles (5.6Km) from Dumfries and 1.5 miles (2.4Km) north of Glencaple Quay. The old harbour served the immediate area as well as its hinterland in Dumfries and Galloway. The quays at Dumfries, Kingholm Quay Laghall and Castledykes lay upstream and downstream jetties or quays were located at Glencaple Quay, Kirkconnell and Carsethorn.

References

  1. 1 2 Cramb, Auslan (12 August 2008). "'Viking' salmon fishery under threat from new laws". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
  2. ↑ Crisp, Trevor (2008). Trout and Salmon: Ecology, Conservation and Rehabilitation. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 8–9. ISBN   978-0-470-99976-9.
  3. ↑ Lloyd, Karen (18 September 2017). "Haaf netting on the Lune: 'Fighting a big fish really gets the adrenaline going'". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 Scott, Allen J. (2014). Solway Country: Land, Life and Livelihood in the Western Border Region of England and Scotland. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 76–77. ISBN   978-1-4438-7140-2.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Peters, Jonathan (21 January 2020). "Fight to save 1,000-year-old fishing technique". BBC News. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  6. ↑ Walpole, Spencer (1873). "Mr Walpole's Seventh Report". 12th Annual Report of the Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries (England and Wales). Board of Trade, Great Britain. p. 88.
  7. ↑ "Haaf Netting". BBC Archive. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  8. ↑ "Haaf Net History". DG Culture. Dumfries and Galloway Council . Retrieved 22 January 2020. Unique to the inner Solway, haaf netting has been practised in Annan for over a thousand years.
  9. ↑ Smylie, Mike (2023). A Short History of Britain's Fisheries. Pen & Sword. pp. 44–45. ISBN   978-1-39906-954-0.
  10. ↑ McClounie, Pam (28 January 2018). "Haaf netters say new salmon fishing proposals could put an end to ancient art". News and Star . Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  11. ↑ "New salmon and sea trout protection byelaws for the Solway, Border Esk and River Eden rod fishery". Cumbria Crack. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  12. 1 2 "Scottish Government pours cold water on Solway Firth's ancient haaf netters". The Herald. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  13. ↑ Buchanan, Raymond (12 August 2008). "Haaf netters fear for fishing's future". BBC News. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  14. 1 2 Lytollis, Roy (1 November 2008). "Fearless fishermen won't let Viking birthright slip the net". The Scotsman. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
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