Fishing in Cornwall
[2][3][4] The industry has featured in numerous works of art, particularly by Stanhope Forbes and other Newlyn School artists.
The beginnings of a significant fishery in Cornwall may be traced to the reign of King John, and by the time of the Tudors the industry had become of national importance.
In the early years of the 17th century the fishermen of Cornwall and Devon were also heavily involved in the Newfoundland fisheries.
The most important fishing ports on the north coast were St Ives, which had a considerable fleet[6] and Padstow.
A. K. Hamilton Jenkin describes how the St Ives fisherman strictly observed Sunday as a day of rest.
One remarkable catch at St Ives was of one thousand hogsheads in three seine nets, approximately 2,400,000 fish in all.
[9] A new harbour was built at St Agnes in 1798 which supported a fishing industry and allowed for the export of copper ore and the import of coal from South Wales for the smelters at the mines.
In 1802, a pilchard fishing industry was established from the harbour at St Agnes, reaching its peak in 1829 and 1830 before declining.
[10][11][12] Up to the early 20th century, Newquay was a small fishing port famous for pilchards and there is a "Huer's Hut" above the harbour from which a lookout would cry "Hevva!"
The real pilchards have long gone, but a small number of boats still catch the local edible crabs and lobsters.
Nowadays around twenty small boats use the tidal moorings of the original harbour during the summer months.
[13] The Newlyn fleet utilises a variety of catching methods, however, the vessels are comparatively small and mostly owned by their skippers in comparison with the large factory boats of Spain and France with whom they share their fishing grounds.
Stocks were left depleted in the 1990s, but now Cornish hake numbers have recovered to nearly double their low point.
This turn-around has been achieved through the use of nets with larger mesh size than the legal requirement which allow the smaller juveniles to swim free, leaving more fish to reproduce.
[15] Porthleven known locally as ‘Port’ had its harbour built by French prisoners of war after the wreck of HMS Anson.
Porthleven was already a typical fishing village that evolved to become a major port in the area for the import of all building material and coal and export of China clay.
Cadgwith was established in medieval times as a collection of fishing cellars in a sheltered south-east facing coastal valley with a shingle cove to subsidise local farmers' livelihoods by fishing Cadgwith was originally called Caswydh or Porthcaswydh (thought to be derived from the Cornish word for 'a thicket'; probably because the valley was densely wooded).
Subsequently, buildings were established as homes, lofts, capstan houses, and cellars constructed of local stone or cob walls, and thatched or slated roofs; which were built along the beach and up the sides of the valley leading to Cadgwith's characteristic Cornish fishing village appearance.
Brown edible crabs, spider crabs, lobsters, sharks, monkfish, and conger eel are regularly landed with most being sold abroad through fish merchants but some being sold locally by the fishmonger, the café, public house, and seafood snack shop.
The harbour also offers tourist fishing trips and there is a regular summer passenger ferry to Fowey.
Fowey has thrived as a port for hundreds of years, initially as a trading and naval town, then as the centre for china clay exports.
The fish were drawn to the south Cornwall coast to feed in late summer and brought rich pickings for local fishermen.
Jonathan Couch, the village doctor for many years, was also a notable ichthyologist and trained in succession a large number of fishermen to aid him in his pursuits.
By this time Looe had become a major port, one of Cornwall's largest, exporting local tin, arsenic and granite, as well as hosting thriving fishing and boatbuilding industries.
"[18] In 1870 William Bottrell considered music integral to harvest home, feast days, even visits to the mill.
Gorseth Kernow piper Merv Davey's grandfather, Edward Veale, remembered seeing the step dance, Lattapuch, in the Unity Fish Cellars, Newquay in the 1880s.
