Records & Publications
Halibut line, haddock line and seine net fishery
Charlie Simpson signs copies of Water in Burgidale in WhalsayZoom
To gather information on meids and the fishing grounds, we commissioned Charlie Simpson to work on the project. He identified and interviewed 16 retired fishermen about their lives at sea.
This yielded a detailed history of the halibut line, haddock line and seine net fishery with descriptions of the grounds, details of place names and notable words and phrases.
From the recordings, transcripts were made and reports compiled covering each type of fishery and ground. Place names were checked and given 6-figure grid references. This was often a tricky process as place names from the sea often vary from the land names.
A detailed oral history about fishery in a pre-electronic age emerged and the transcripts of the conversations with fishermen were edited into a book - C. Simpson: Water in Burgidale: Shetland Fisheries in a Pre-electronic Age. (Buy the book)
