History of Clare fishing published

A REMARKABLE insight into the offshore fishing industry in County Clare in the early 18th century is provided in a recently published book, Troubled Waters – a Social and Cultural History of Ireland’s Sea Fisheries.
Author Dr Jim MacLaughlin argues that the political marginalisation of the fishing industry in Ireland is matched only by centuries of the neglect of the country’s sea fisheries by historians and social commentators. He is a political geographer who has written extensively on emigration, nation building, ethnic minorities, racism and social history.
In his latest book, he further suggests that the rise of rural fundamentalism and social Darwinism after the Famine greatly exacerbated the neglect of maritime history in Ireland. In refusing to treat inshore and deep-sea fishing as mere footnotes in the evolution of Irish society, the study stresses the historical importance of the coastal economy to the country’s maritime communities. Topics examined include the archaeology of Irish fishing, cultural representations of coastal workers in Irish art and literature, the internationalisation of Irish waters in the 15th and 16th centuries, the organisation of fish shambles and fish markets in coastal Ireland, the social world and working lives of Irish fishing communities and the crowded shoreline of 19th century Ireland.
In a statistical survey of County Clare in 1808, it was stated that there were “not more fish caught than what supplies the markets of Limerick, Kilrush, Miltown and the southern and western parts of the county; the northern and eastern parts being mostly supplied from Galway”.
“Though the numerous bays and creeks from Loop Head to Kilrush are admirably well adapted for the fitting out and safe lying of fishing-boats, from the poverty and laziness of those who are capable of pursuing the fishing business, it is not carried on with the spirit that such undertakings require,” the author said.
“Around 200 boats were engaged in fishing for herring but this fishery was uncertain and one bad season was capable of ‘completely ruining these poor men, who have expended all upon their boats and fishing apparatus’. There was also ‘a very productive turbot fishery that might be carried on in the mouth of the Shannon’, yet ‘no exertions’ were made to develop this fishery. This was because ‘few if any of the fishermen’ were in a position to ‘expend 15 or 20 guineas for a trawl’. ‘Owing to boisterous weather’ it was argued, the inhabitants of the Clare coast often went ‘without fish of any kind for several months at a time’. At such times, the men engaged in the ‘more agreeable employment of carrying goods ashore from smuggling vessels’.
“As many as 500 French vessels fished the extensive fishing banks off the Clare coast at the start of the 19th century, while English fishing fleets ‘explored only the western banks’. Due to its distance from the shoreline, the centre of this great fishing ground was under-exploited, even though it was ‘likely to afford large quantities of fish’. Oysters were taken in large quantities on various parts of the coast and those taken at Pouldoody in the bay of Galway had ‘a high reputation for flavour, lately however, from want of stocking the bed, they have become scarce’. An ‘inferior sort’ of oyster was sold by fish hawkers and street sellers throughout Clare, Galway and Limerick, while ‘Burrin oysters’, and ‘fine Pouldoody oysters’ were sold directly from boats at George’s Quay in Dublin. Huge crabs and lobsters were ‘caught in great plenty on the shores of the bay of Galway and in every creek from Blackhead to Ardfry’. These were generally sold locally ‘at a very reasonable price’, while those dispatched to Dublin ‘fetched as much as seven shillings’, compared to the ‘mere six pence and sometimes less’ they commanded at local markets in Clare and Limerick,” he added.
“The quantity of salmon caught in the inshore waters and estuaries of Clare was ‘considerable’, with ‘a few being taken in all the rivers that communicate with the sea’. The salmon fishery at Limerick was in decline at the start of the 19th century, due ‘in good measure to the illegal practice of destroying the fish at night by lights in Adair’. Salmon stocks were also depleted, due chiefly to poaching during the spawning season and ‘the very general practice of watering flax in the Shannon, in full view of the magistrates of Killaloe and in violation of an act of parliament against such practices’.
“Eels, on the other hand, formed ‘another very material article of consumption’ around this coast, and were said to ‘abound in every river and rivulet’. The author felt that ‘it would be a very desirable thing, if they could be caught without obstructing the passage of the water, as eel-weirs are the chief cause of very great damage to lands on the banks of rivers’. At Liscannor Bay, a considerable quantity of small turbot was regularly landed and these were sold ‘at a reasonable price’ to a ‘person who has lived in Dublin’. The fishing grounds that produced the largest fish were ‘too far from shore to permit the small boats in use for this purpose to avail themselves of it’. However, mullet and bass were ‘sometimes caught at the mouth of some rivers’, while ‘many kinds of flat fish, with mackerel, herrings and whitings in their proper season, ‘caught in abundance’, and were ‘a great relief to the poor of Limerick and other towns’.”
O’Brien’s brief account of Kerry’s sea fisheries in 1804 stated that there were ‘around 120 substantial fishing boats, weighing from 10 to 15 tons burden’ operating out of Dingle alone. These were partly engaged in summer trading in turf and farm produce and partly in the herring fishing during the autumn months. Wherries from Rush and hookers from Kinsale and Galway regularly fished for herring, mackerel and pilchards in the waters off Kerry. O’Brien estimated that there were almost 800 such small fishing boats and curraghs operating on this stretch of coastline.
With only two harbours, one at Dingle and the other at Valentia, boats had to be beached well back from the shore in stormy weather. He estimated that there were just over 3,000 fishermen in the county, not counting those employed in gutting and processing fish.
Valentia was deemed ‘perhaps the safest harbour in the world’, and was of ‘great importance if ever the fishery on this coast were to meet encouragement’. O’Brien urged the construction of a lighthouse on island ‘to improve navigation’ and contribute to the development of the local maritime economy. His report, which was dispatched to the Dublin Society, paints a picture of fishing in this part of Munster as ‘struggling doggedly’ to survive without any support from either local landlords, merchants or central government.