Fife's Fishing Industry

Fishing has always been a mainstay of Fife. The fishing industry began to develop in earnest in the latter half of the nineteenth century, with many advances in boat design, technology of fishing gear and expansion of markets through improved transport. Fishing became more efficient and could employ more people in itself, and in supporting trades. The annual pattern of fishing seasons emerged with many boats catching white fish through the winter, followed by the main herring fishery through the summer and autumn. There was also a smaller winter herring fishery in the Forth itself. This book charts the evolution of Fife's fishing industry through photographs held at the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther. They cover the period from the 1880s to the present day and inevitably concentrate on the East Neuk fishing villages that dominated Fife's fishing industry. In these images we can see the harbours teeming with boats, the piers busy with herring lasses gutting and packing the fish, carters and coopers, and the shores piled high with baskets and boxes, all revolving around the silver harvest of the sea.