History & Heritage

The Sea

Fishing

Shell fish, mainly maorach (limpet) and faochag (wilk) have been eaten in large quantities since the first settlers came to Tiree. The remains of a fish trap of uncertain age can be seen in Heanish between Dùn Hianais and Eilean nan Gobhar (the Island of Goats).

More recently, fishing from the shore was done with a slat-chuilc (bamboo rod). Cnotagan (hollows where limpets, dog whelks or potatoes were ground) can be seen at numerous carraigean (fishing rocks). This bait was thrown into the water immediately before fishing.

In 1786 the British Society for Extending the Fisheries sent John Knox (no relation of the religious leader) to the Highlands to look for new fishing grounds and harbours. When he came to Tiree he found the islanders "depend chiefly on the produce of the ground, though the coasts abound on every side with all the varieties of… fish.”

In 1792 it is reported that in "the summer of 1787 there were several companies of natives employed, and though of little experience, they caught at one letting of 200 - 300 hooks, from 30 - 80 cod and ling... and those who had harpoon and line caught at the same time sail-fish [basking sharks]... there are yearly companies from Barra…having more experience are more successful than our own men. There have been also adventurers from Ireland and the east of Scotland successful. In one sloop particularly…they seemed to have caught in two months from 12,000 to 16,000 cod and ling…They do not in this district, pursue fishing with spirit."

By 1845 little had changed. In this year it was recorded that fishing "does not appear to have been hitherto prosecuted with the activity and perseverance which it deserves... though almost all are occasional fishers, yet few follow it steadily as a profession. Out of 94 fishing skiffs only 10 are regularly employed." The writer goes on to lament the presence of fishermen from Aberdeenshire with more powerful boats beside which "the native boats are but slight cockle-shells."

The lack of a suitable harbour was addressed in 1847 when new piers were built in Port Bhiostadh at the Green, Port Driseag in West Hynish, Port an Tobair in Balemartine, at Milton and at Port a’ Mhuilinn in Baugh. The remains of these piers can still be seen.

Fishing has always been a dangerous occupation but Fuadach Bhail’ a’ Phuill, the Balephuil Fishing Disaster in 1856, had a devastating effect on the west end of the island. The July morning had dawned calm and sunny. Only an arc of a rainbow in the west warned Archibald Campbell (Am Bòidheach) from Barrapol not to go to sea. But seven boats did set out from West Hynish for the Skerryvore fishing banks. At midday a sudden storm scattered the fleet and nine men were drowned. One boat, with the dead skipper Donald MacLean (Dòmhnall Ceann na Creige) still at the helm, came ashore on Coll. Another two boats were driven to Islay where the crew were looked after by a woman whose uncle had been a factor on Tiree and had himself lived in West Hynish.

In 1860 the estate purchased a forty foot fishing boat, the Duchess, for the use of Tiree fishermen. The factor, John Campbell, reporting to the Duke in 1862, wrote "the crew of the Duchess have had very good fishing... and brought in 300 fine line fish." They kept their sails in the Scarinish store until they were accused of stealing some sail cloth from the storekeeper, Mr. MacQuarrie. Unfortunately the Duchess was wrecked in Hynish Bay in 1871.

The Green, so called because it was used to dry fish, was a favourite spot of the east coast fishermen who continued to come every summer. It is said that the Duke employed several east coast families, among them Downies, to show Tiree fishermen the arts of line fishing.

For four seasons between 1914 and 1918, and for two years in the 1930s, there was a herring boom on Tiree and anyone who had a boat was busy. One Balephuil crofter told how he earned £35, a large sum at the time, in one week as a crew member of a herring boat. Gott pier was busy with clann-nighean an sgadain (herring girls) who gutted and salted the fish. At least two married locally in Scarinish.

Although Donald MacKinnon, Brock, was described as a "lobster fisherman" in the 1861 census, commercial lobster fishing only developed on Tiree after 1880 when the railway to Oban was opened. This allowed shellfish to be sent live to the London markets for the first time. Over-fishing has meant that since the 1990s they are less commonly caught.

A small number of boats currently fish out of Milton and Scarinish, predominantly for velvet crab with some lobster, crayfish and brown crab.

Brown trout were introduced by the estate into Loch Bhasapol after 1845 and have thrived. A similar attempt by Alf Bruton in the 1950s at Loch Ghrianail in Kirkapol was not successful.