Queuing for fish, Avoch

Today, the villagers of Avoch buy their fresh fish from a travelling van. Over a hundred years ago the position would have been reversed – the villagers would been selling their own fish! Depending on the season, you would have seen many different kinds of fishing boats tied up in the harbour.

There were the small 'skufteys' which were used close to shore. They also carried people back and forward to larger boats lying offshore.

For the winter herring season there were the clinker-built 'scaffies', made locally with Black Isle larch wood.

Later, the more robust 'Zulus' and the straight-stemmed 'Fifies' allowed the fishermen to fish further afield, from Caithness down to Buchan, and even as far as Lowestoft and Yarmouth.

It was not only the men who were involved in the fishing. The women were kept busy too. They had to gather mussels and dig for lug worms to bait the lines. They had to mend the nets and knit the jerseys worn by their men at sea. They had to sell the surplus fish throughout the area, travelling on foot with heavy creels on their backs. They even followed their men to the English ports where they would spend their days gutting and packing the fish into barrels.

The fishing industry in the smaller communities like Avoch went into decline in the early   20 ^th century, with the advent of large steam trawlers and depleted stocks of fish. Despite this, Avoch still manages to maintain the atmosphere of a fishing village, with the harbour as its focus.