Memorandum submitted by the 40+ Fishing
Boat Association
The 40+ Fishing Boat Association was set up
by Mike Smylie and Michael Craine in 1995, against the background
of the enforced decommissioning and destruction of hundreds of
fishing boats, as part of the overall European Commission's intention
to reduce fishing capability throughout the Union. Unfortunately,
from a maritime heritage point of view, this has resulted in the
scrapping of many wooden fishing boats that would otherwise have
been an integral part of Britain's maritime heritage. As well
as highlighting this "enforced vandalism", as we termed
it at the time, the Association has grown over the last 10 years
into one that is working hard to protect what fishing heritage
remains. At the same time it is encouraging the restoration of
fishing vessels and the research into fishing history. It is the
only UK-based maritime group to actively support all types of
historically important fishing vessels, whether oar-, sail- or
motor-propelled. Thus we have over 500 members, with over half
having ex-fishing boats in their ownership.
Britain, as an island nation, has a maritime
heritage that we are supposedly proud of, but one that all too
often ignores, and thus overlooks, the contributory work of ordinary
people that made the country's expanse throughout the globe in
the period between the 17th and 19th centuries possible. The role
played by British fishermen during this era is one that has never
been fully recognised.
It was the herring fishery that was the first
recognised fishery of importance to the country and a committee
was appointed by the House of Commons to enquire into the state
of this fishery. Thus the "Reports from Committees on the
State of the British Herring Fisheries" dated 1798, 1799
and 1800 were produced. These reports, while emphasising the scale
of the fisheries and the benefit to the country in its encouragement,
also highlighted the importance of the fishermen as being a source
of manpower to the Royal Navy. Fishermen all over the world were
the first mariners, vital because of their maritime skills. Thus
we see that for a long time it was to the fishing fleets that
both the Royal and Merchant Navies relied upon as a pool of crew
to man the vessels employed in expanding Britain's Empire. But,
in the words of an Indian writer, they are "the lost people
of history: its silent actors".
Furthermore, during the First and Second World
Wars, it was Britain's fishermen that crewed the majority of the
coastal minesweeping fleets and other coastal vessels that played
such a major role in protecting Britain from German intents around
these coasts and further afield. Their contribution through lives
given to the cause is one that has never really been recognised
until very recently, especially by the Admiralty.
During this period, as well as contributing
to the expansion and war efforts, the fishermen also played a
major role is supplying food to feed the nation at times when
food was in short supply. Many paid the ultimate penalty.
Because fishing boats, like lifeboats, pilotage
craft, ferrying boats, barges etc, are vernacular in their very
being, they do not visually impact upon the public in the same
way that the large ships such as HMS Victory, Warrior, Belfast
(to name a few) do. This is one reason that they have largely
been ignored. Furthermore, fishing communities often live apart
from the rest of society, even both socially and physically at
the extremity of the larger community, and are often regarded
as dirty and uncouth folk. This, too, has meant they are often
overlooked. But there is no doubt that their contribution outweighs
that of other groups within the field.
The variety in shape and design of fishing boats
around these coasts are tremendous, and Britain probably has the
greatest number of differing types of fishing boats of any country
in the world. My book Traditional Fishing Boats of Britain
and Ireland (1999) catalogues all these types. Although some
of these types have disappeared for good, examples of the vast
majority do still exist and have often been pulled from near extinction
through the perseverance and hard work of individual people, without
the help and encouragement of any national body. Thus we can see
today many ex-fishing boats sailing and working around the coasts.
In a few cases, individuals have built replica boats from plans
that have survived even if no original examples of those types
remain.
From this we can see that by attaining to the
"best of the maritime heritage", this hasn't in the
past necessarily included these fishing craft. "Best"
all too often does mean that with the optimum visual impact, but
it is self evident that all sectors in the maritime field must
be included in any future policy.
Funds have been made available to certain projects
over the last few years, largely from the National Lottery, which
has resulted in an increase in exhibits available to the larger
public, and thus their awareness of their importance. But, in
the majority of cases, fishing boat restorations have been funded
by the individuals themselves, subsequently funded through working
the vessels as charter vessels.
Now, it is plainly obvious that there is never
going to be the funds made available by the government to fund
more than a handful of restoration projects, nor the funding to
enable vessels to remain at sea. That is not to say that this
should be the case. It's just a matter of the reality of the situation!
Many argue that the best place to exhibit historically important
vessels is in museums, as static displays. In some instances this
may be so, but in the writer's mind, for vessels to survive long
term they should be in their native environment—eg kept
working at sea. Whilst more resources should be made available
to this field, there are other factors that should be taken into
account.
Firstly, maritime heritage isn't just about
boats. It is about boatbuilding techniques, design implications,
maritime buildings and dockyards, maritime traditions and associated
skills (sail-making, rope-making, early motorisation etc). Resources
should be made available within all these fields.
Secondly there are a number of institutions
and groups within Britain that do focus their efforts on particular
fishing vessel types such as The Coble and Keelboat Society, The
Sailing Smack Association, The Nobby Association and The Cornish
Lugger Association. The International Sailing Craft Association
holds fine examples of working and pleasure craft from all over
the world. Individual museums hold their own collections of vessels,
the finest in the writer's opinion being that at the Scottish
Fisheries Museum in Anstruther, Fife. All these bodies should
be given recognition and encouragement.
Other than making funding available as already
stated, there are two other points that are worthy of investigation,
both of which would go along way to help those working in the
maritime heritage field.
1. The setting up of "historic harbours"
where boat owners can keep their vessels, free of charge, and
where they will be available for public scrutiny. Such harbours
successfully exist in Holland and other countries. In Britain,
Brixham is working hard to achieve just this. It should be mirrored
in other areas of the coast.
2. The making available of resources in
setting down a national archive of all traditional British working
craft that have worked these coasts. This should be in the form
of plans, photographs, building specifications and working details.
Much of this information does exist today, albeit in various quarters,
but it should be centralised and made easily accessible to all.
I apologise for the very brief nature of this
submission, which has been rushed, but the writer only returned
from a six-week research trip around the coasts of India this
morning. However, after spending time recording and studying the
fishermen and fishing boats on the coast of the sub-continent,
as well as observing the catastrophic results from the December
tsunami, it has made me plainly more aware of the many failings
we have made over many decades in protecting our maritime heritage.
It is a heritage that we should be proud of, indeed one that we
keep repeating that we are proud of. Yet it is one that we have
chosen to ignore except in certain limited areas. If those whose
lives have been destroyed through one natural disaster are more
aware of their own heritage than we are in a so-called developed
country, it really doesn't say much for us in Britain. So much
has been lost through inaction and successive governments' policy,
especially with regard to our fishing heritage. Yet it isn't too
late if we act now. Therefore I implore you to take account of
this history when formulating strategy within the Government's
stated policy of protecting the "best" in maritime heritage.
8 February 2005
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