FISHING, Inshore and Deep Sea Fishing has been a major industry in the North East of Scotland for the most part of two centuries.

But as long ago as the 1500 there were established fishing communities to serve mainly local needs. This involved traditional methods of Drying, Smoking or the use of salt or spices. However, often the previous days catch had to be thrown back into the sea.

The Dutch pioneered the first "Factory ships" as far back as 1416. These ships appeared in the North Sea after 1525 when the Baltic shoals disappeared. These Dutch three-masted vessels were large enough to allow a catch to be cleaned, salted and packed in barrels on board. Allowing the fish to be kept edible for up to a year. The Dutch also, to their credit,at this time imposed fishing restrictions on net sizes, types of salt, and packing methods, as well as allowing only a six month fishing window from June to December.

The Scottish and English boats at this time, being smaller and unable to handle and store large catches, could not exploit the main fishing grounds to the same extent.

However in 1788 the British Fisheries Society was established. They helped revive the Herring industry and by the mid-nineteenth century there were fleets working from Wick, Helmsdale, Peterhead and Fraserburgh as well as other english ports.

IN 1815 the scaffle herring boats used in North East Scotland were little more than twenty feet in length with a twelve foot beam and cost £6.00. They were timber built with what is termed a raked stern and a curved bow. By 1835 they measured from between 24 to 26 feet with a fourteen foot beam and they cost £60.00.

Conditions in these undecked boats were very basic.There was no shelter for the crew and the men had to sleep exposed to the elements, often under cover of the sail. A fire was kindled amongst the ballast stones to cook their food and this continued until the late 1850's fifties, when the herring boats were for the first time decked. The life was extremely difficult at sea in those days.These little craft were totally unfit for storms or heavy seas

The importance of Herring subsided as white fish, such as Haddock, became more valuable than the migrating and seasonal Herring. These white fish alternatives were also less oily and hence easier to process and cure.

With the advent of the steam trawler towards the end of the Nineteenth century a massive exploitation of the North Sea began. By 1910 the heyday of sailing drifters was over and by 1914 there were entire fleets of steam drifters.The catch capacity of these new vessels decimated the fishing stocks. Between 1860 and 1900 fish landings at some ports increased 30 fold. By 1914 the UK total landings stood at over 450,000 tons a year. Since then fishing has moved on again; for example, a purse net fishing vessel can pull in more fish in one net than these older boats catch in an entire season.