The North Atlantic Fisheries, 1100-1976 - University of Hull

crofting communities of the highlands and islands of Scotland, was
considerable and clearly warrants closer examination. An economic
perspective on this activity is particularly lacking, for contemporary
observers and social historians have considered the inshore fisheries in
some depth. 246 Incorporating this business into the mainstream of the
fishing industry will locate it in an appropriate context and help explain
why by the late 19th century fishing was in many places already in confrontation with a
growing tourism. This confrontation provides, perhaps, the saddest chapter in the
social history of the fisherman. A study of the fisherman where port and resort
coincided could illuminate a dark corner of the social history of the British holiday.
From proud fishermen into eventual summer tip-grubbers and winter dole-queuers,
has been the reality of tourism for many. 247
Conclusion and Prospect
Writing in 1977, A R Michell remarked that ‘one could look at general
histories of England in the nineteenth century and never guess that Great
Britain was the most important fishing nation in the world’. 248 It is the
contention of this brief survey that this misleading impression derives
largely from the inadequacy of the literature on the fisheries of the
British Isles, in particular the ‘dearth of monograph material’ noted by
another observer in 1973. 249 Only a comprehensive study of the fisheries
of the British Isles, perhaps the collaborative work of a number of hands,
can adequately correct this deficiency. Such a project would have a
substantial foundation—at least for the modern period—on which to
build in the growing volume of local and regional studies published in
recent years. It would require inter alia to focus on four main
weaknesses:
1. Fishing conducted from the British Isles in medieval and early
modern times lacks a detailed and comprehensive coverage, with
important areas such as long-term price movements and coastal
settlement patterns almost entirely neglected. A substantial research
effort is needed to identify and analyse appropriate source materials.
246 Reynolds, Poor Man’s House; Thompson, Living the Fishing.
247 Rule, ‘British Fisherman’, 62.
248 Michell, ‘European Fisheries’.
249 Rule, ‘British Fisherman’, 61.
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