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Atlantic fishing history comes to life with launch of new book
A GROUND-breaking and exhaustive study of the history of fishing in the North Atlantic will be launched in Hull tonight.
Charting the rise and development of fishing from the earliest known practices to the mid-19th century – A History of the North Atlantic Fisheries – will be launched in a series of lectures at Hull's Fishgate fish market on William Wright Dock.
The book has been 10 years in the making and features contributions from historians in Hull, Iceland, Norway, Greenland, North America, Russia, France and the Iberian peninsula. It is thought to be the first time such a wide-ranging study has been put together in a single volume, and its authors hope it will help provide a useful reference for managing fisheries in the future.
It provides a pioneering region-wide appraisal of the scale, character and significance of the North Atlantic fisheries.
Written by experts in the field, including James Candow, Alf Nielssen, Ernesto Lopez Losa and Robb Robinson, the study assesses how and why the region's fisheries have contributed to human dietary requirements, generated income for those who catch, process and market fish products, and encouraged fishermen and women – and their techniques, beliefs and cultures – to migrate to new lands in search of better catches and markets.
Dr David Starkey, of the Maritime Historical Studies Centre at Blaydes House in Hull, edited the book and will give an introductory talk.
He said: "The fisheries have had a profound influence on the development of human societies in the North Atlantic region.
"Assuming countless forms over the age, fishing activity has ranged across the vast expanse of an ocean that includes a myriad of complex, dynamic and fragile ecosystems.
"The waters of the North Atlantic sustain a wide range of species and over the centuries they have sustained many different types of fishery and fishermen, from the subsistence fisheries of indigenous populations to long distance voyages by medieval mariners, through to modern capital intensive fisheries." Dr Starkey will introduce the book and its assistant editor, Dr Robinson, who wrote a chapter on the contribution of the North Sea and the British Isles, will outline the its main findings.
He said: "Fishing was and is part and parcel of life for many communities.
"Hull is an apt place to launch the book, not only because of its modern industry, but Hull fishermen started fishing off Iceland in 1408.
"It looks at the way that people fished, the techniques they used, the types of fish they caught, the whole trade and industry, where they sent the fish and what effect it had on the seas."
Dr Robinson said he hoped the book would help inform future strategies for maintaining the fisheries. "The problem now is that we have the ability to catch more fish than there are in the seas. Give people a better understanding of what went before so they are more clear about what the long-term implications are for the future."
Dr Robinson will also give a talk on recently discovered images of Hull fishermen at work on the North Sea "boxing fleets". The fleets often spent years at sea, their numbers regularly replenished by a new ship as one left. The Hull steam trawlers were serviced by ships from London. Boxes of fish would be rowed across and taken to Billingsgate Fish Market to receive a fresh catch each day.
The last Hull boxing fleet was called back into port in 1936.
Retired Hull skipper Ken Knox will also give a lecture called Nor'ard of the Dogger which outline the work of the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, from its beginnings in the 19th century.
Mr Knox, who made his first trip to sea at the age of 15, joined the Hull advisory committee of the mission two years ago.
The launch begins at 7.30pm. Tickets cost 11 and include a fish supper and a glass of wine.
To book call Robb Robinson on 01482 305111.
Fish restaurant backs heritage group
A new restaurant which will pay homage to Hull's fishing industry opens in the city's St Stephen's shopping centre today.
Naked Fish, launched by Bridlington restaurateur James Goacher, is donating a pound from every meal sold today to the Hull fishing heritage group Stand. He will continue to give the group a pound from a "stand special" fish and chips dish that will be sold daily.
Representatives from Stand attended a preview of the launch yesterday to the accompaniment of sea shanties. Mr Goacher's family has links to the industry in Hull and Bridlington for four generations.
His great uncle was chief engineer on Hull's last sidewinder trawler Arctic Corsair, which is now a floating museum run by Stand moored on the River Hull.
Mr Goacher opened his first Naked Fish restaurant in Bridlington in 2005.
Much of the fish and shellfish being served will be sourced from boats at Bridlington harbour and at Hull's Fishgate market.
Backed by the Yorkshire Post, Stand has spent years working to create a memorial to Hull's fishing industry.
It has reached its fund-raising target, but because
of complications over its preferred location, on the bullnose at St Andrew's Dock, the group is now considering temporary locations elsewhere in the city.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
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Temperature: -2 C to 1 C
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