Drifter (fishing boat)
Encyclopedia
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
s in a long drift net
Drift net
Drift netting is a fishing technique where nets, called drift nets, are allowed to float freely at the surface of a sea or lake. Usually a drift net is a gill net with floats attached to a rope along the top of the net, and weights attached to another rope along the foot of the net to keep the net...
. Herring fishing using drifters has a long history in the Netherlands and in many British fishing ports, particularly in East Scottish ports.
Until the mid 1960s fishing fleets in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
comprised drifters and trawlers, with the drifters primarily targeting herring
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
while the trawlers caught cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
, plaice
Plaice
Plaice is the common name of four species of flatfishes.Plaice or PLAICE may also refer to:* USS Plaice , a Balao-class submarine* PLAICE, an open source hardware FLASH programmer, memory emulator, and logic analyzer...
, skate
Skate
Skates are cartilaginous fish belonging to the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea of rays. There are more than 200 described species in 27 genera. There are two subfamilies, Rajinae and Arhynchobatinae ....
and haddock
Haddock
The haddock , also known as the offshore hake, is a marine fish distributed on both sides of the North Atlantic. Haddock is a popular food fish and is widely fished commercially....
, etc. By the mid 1960s the catches were greatly diminishing, particularly the herring. Consequently the drifter fleet disappeared and many of the trawlers were adapted to work as service ships for the newly created North Sea oil rig
Oil platform
An oil platform, also referred to as an offshore platform or, somewhat incorrectly, oil rig, is a lаrge structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing...
s.
Some history of drifters is covered in Scottish east coast fishery
Scottish east coast fishery
The Scottish east coast fishery has been in existence for more than a thousand years, spanning the Viking period right up to the present day.-A brief history:...
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Drifters preserved as museum ship
Museum ship
A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...
s include Lydia Eva
Lydia Eva (steam drifter)
The Lydia Eva is the last surviving steam drifter of the herring fishing fleet based in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. The Great Yarmouth herring fleet had made the town the major herring port in the world in the early part of the 20th century.-External links:...
, a steam drifter of the herring fishing fleet based in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and Reaper
Reaper (sailing vessel)
Reaper is a restored historic Fifie herring drifter which is registered by the National Historic Ships Committee as part of the Core Collection of historic vessels in the UK, and currently operates as a museum ship.-History:...
, a restored Scottish Fifie
Fifie
The Fifie is a design of sailing boat developed on the east coast of Scotland. It was a traditional fishing boat used by Scottish fishermen from the 1850s until well into the 20th century...
herring drifter at the Scottish Fisheries Museum
Scottish Fisheries Museum
The Scottish Fisheries Museum is an award-winning museum in Anstruther, Fife, that records the history of the Scottish fishing industry and its people from earliest times to the present day....
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See also
- Herring BussHerring BussA herring buss was a type of sea-going fishing vessel, used by Dutch herring fishermen in the 15th through early 19th centuries.The buss ship type has a long history...
(Dutch precursor to the drifter) - FifieFifieThe Fifie is a design of sailing boat developed on the east coast of Scotland. It was a traditional fishing boat used by Scottish fishermen from the 1850s until well into the 20th century...
(widely used early drifter in Scotland) - Manx nobby
- History of fishing in the United Kingdom
- Naval drifterNaval drifterA naval drifter is a boat built along the lines of a commercial fishing drifter but fitted out for naval purposes. The use of naval drifters is paralleled by the use of naval trawlers....
External links
- http://www.lydiaeva.org.uk/