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© courtesy of Bill Quinn
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County Down fishing |
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The other major local fishery involved the capture of whitefish, particularly plaice and whiting but cod, haddock and coarse fish like skate, pollock and, for a time in Annalong, dogfish, were also lucrative quarry.
These were caught by line from small boats, an activity followed all around the Down coast, usually in conjunction with other more seasonal fishing or with labouring or work on the land, or by trawl, whose use was particularly prevalent in north Down and Belfast Lough.
Shellfishing was another pursuit followed as a part-time or supplemental activity and as a commercial fishery in its own right. Winkles and mussels were gathered by women and children to boost family incomes - in Carlingford Lough there was a tradition that widows were allowed to glean for small oysters rejected by the main oyster fishery. Crabs and lobsters were caught in pots and hooked on shore and packed off to upmarket hotels and restaurants in England.
The rise of tourism in Co. Down provided an important local market for these delicacies, with the Slieve Donard hotel in Newcastle allegedly buying every specimen local lobstermen could get their hands on.
Tourism also provided local fishermen with a lucrative out-of-season source of income in the shape of fishing trips and pleasure rides. This was particularly important for Belfast Lough fishermen who had easy access to the wrecks that littered its floor to become inhabited with easily found prey that even the most amateur of linesmen (and women) could catch.
Bangor trawlermen were especially regarded for the service they provided for visitors to this rapidly growing popular resort - so much so that in one report they were described as spending their whole time fishing for cod in winter and tourists in summer.
Belfast Lough fishermen also had the opportunity to work as pilots guiding boats through the tricky reaches of the Lough's mouth, and were once criticised for the alacrity with which they abandoned their nets and lines to tout for business from passing ships.
Words: Dr. Vivienne Pollock, Ulster Museum
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