Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of the Herring

aka The Herripedia

Browse Fishing ...

BALDIE

On the C19th Scottish origins and naming of the herring drifter known as the Baldie, including a photograph of two at Pittenweem

BEUCKEL, Willem

On the semi-mythical C14th Dutch fisherman who may have come up with an improved method of gutting and salting herring

BUSS

On the large vessels developed by the Dutch for voyages to the fishing grounds off Scotland and England and for on board gutting and salting

DRIFT OR GILL NETTING

On the nets used by drifters in a largely abandoned, but sustainable method of catching herring now developed unsustainably elsewhere

FIFIE

On the development, nature and adaptability of the sailing and steam drifters, the Fifie; its unsurprising origins on the Fife coast

HERRING LASSES

On the herring lasses and the work they did, following the fishing around the coast of Britain, but particularly from Shetland to Great Yarmouth

KLONDYKING

On the development of klondyking, its changed meaning over time and thoughts on associations between herring fisheries and gold

LUGGER

A description of the boat which replaced the herring buss and increased the alternative income opportunities for fishermen

MARTYRED SAINT

The irreverently wonderful C15th northern French poem, The Life of Saint Herring, glorious martyr, introduced and translated into English

PURSE SEINING

The development, efficiencies and impacts of the purse seine net for herring fishing (other fish, of course, also apply)

QUOTAS

A brief history of overfishing, recent attempts at controlling it, together with thoughts on stock conservation and capitalism

RING NET: WILL MACLEAN

An interview with Scottish artist Will Maclean on his documentary exhibition, The Ring Net, which he developed between 1973 and 1978

RING NETTING

On the rise and demise of ring net fishing for herring, which originated in the waters of Loch Fyne and played a role in the sad development of overfishing

SARDINES

The sardine in cans, on the slab and in popular culture; the limits of self-identification for herrings and non-European pilchards

SINGING THE FISHING

Always at the forefront of documentary innovation, the herring swims through the great Radio Ballad of 1960

SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS

Charles I, The Stuarts, Maritime sovereignty, the herring and the building of a flagship

TRAWLING

On the development of beam trawling which doesn't target herring (but destroys their spawning grounds) and pelagic trawling which does

VENTJAGER

How they got the good new herring from somewhere off the coast of Scotland to wealthy Dutch burghers fresh from a hard day of being painted by Rembrandt

YAWL

On the nature of the boat known as a yawl and the difference between the Norwegian and Scarborough versions

ZULU

A compromise between the Fifie and the Scaffie, a boat with a popular design which didn't adapt well to the introduction of steam

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