The Yorkshire coast fishery has long been part of the Yorkshire economy for centuries. The Yorkshire Coast, from the River Tees to the Humber estuary, has many ports both small and large where the fishing trade thrives. The historic ports at Hull and Whitby are important locations for the landing and processing of fish and shellfish. Scarborough and Bridlington are also sites of commercial fishing.
The fishing industry has been in decline since the mid to late 20th century due to labour problems, fishing quotas and decommissioning schemes. Bridlington is the largest shellfish port in Europe with regular exports abroad which are mostly to European countries.
The Yorkshire and The Humber statistical region is the second largest fishing industry in the United Kingdom (after Scotland) in terms of the number of people who work in the industry.
History Up until the 1840s, the fisheries were landing catches that supplied only their immediate area; Scarborough, for example, saw an increase in its fishing fleet from 130 ships in 1840 to 800 ships in 1860. The rise in the number of boats and the increased catch, was down to the coming of the railways, which allowed fresh fish to be transported many miles inland. The transport of fish was an important business for the railways, and in 1922, the tonnages of fish transported by the railway network from the Yorkshire ports was as follows;
+Station nameTonnageTotalsNotes Small tonnages were usually sent in vans attached to passenger trains, which were then shunted onto larger freight trains in Whitby or ScarboroughMost of the fish traffic was loaded at Gallows Close goods yard The forwarding of fish from Hull also meant that it developed a lucrative fish market with buyers from many inland places needing their catch taken inland as it was a perishable commodity.
Some of the first experiments in deep-sea trawling were conducted off the Holderness Coast at Flamborough in the early part of the 19th century. However, until the days of large fishing trawlers in the 20th century, the most common boat in service across Yorkshire (and the north east coast) was the Coble. The design of the coble is a basic one with a short plank laid horizontally instead of a keel and a flat bottom on the boat. The flat bottom allowed the coble to be berthed almost anywhere as it did not need extensive harbour facilities; most cobles where simply hauled onto the beaches when not in use.
The coble (pronounced cobble) has been on the eastern coast of Britain for a 1,000 years and has a ribbed look (known as clinker built) where the planks, made from larch wood, overlap each other. The coble fell out of favour after the First World War as they were sail boats, and motorised fishing vessels took their place, although some cobles have had engines fitted. There are now several preservation movements dedicated to the history of the coble.
One tradition that still exists is that of the Gansey. These are woollen jumpers that fishermen wore whilst at sea to keep them warm and deflect sea spray. The tradition in the Yorkshire ports was that each one had a different design. This was practical rather than sartorial; if a body of a fisherman was washed ashore his port of origin could be easily identified.
The port of Whitby was noted as being the main port for the landing of herring. The herring fishery extended from to east of Whitby, though some boats went fishing as far out as . Not all of the boats came from Whitby, or indeed from Yorkshire; fishing boats came from as far afield as Scotland, East Anglia and Cornwall. Whitby still has a traditional kipper smokehouse, though most of the herring comes from Norwegian waters. As a side venture to the herring fishery, sport fishing for tuna was carried out until the early 1950s, when the tuna stopped coming due to the overfishing of herring and mackerel.
The inherent danger of fishing at sea is borne out by the fact that between 1808 and 1970, over 400 ships were lost off the Yorkshire coast. At least 74 of these (19%) were lost due to military action during the First and Second World War's. Many fishing vessels were lost after the First World War when their nets brought sea mines onto the ship; in 1919, three Hull trawlers were lost this way, similarly, three trawlers working out of Scarborough were lost in 1920, one of which went down with all hands.
Throughout the 1960s, the crab fishery on the Yorkshire coast represented 40% of the catch landed in England and Wales. Cobles landed the catch at Redcar, Staithes, Whitby, Scarborough, Filey, Flamborough and Bridlington.
The fishermen who worked out of the Port of Hull suffered during the Cod Wars of the 1960s and 1970s. Trawlermen who lost their jobs as a result of the agreement between the United Kingdom and Iceland did not receive redundancy payments, though some were entitled to compensation after an intervention by Alan Johnson MP. Fishermen working out of Hull (and Grimsby) were given incentives such as being partners in the boats they operated on which regulated supply of fish and kept the market price of the commodity stable. However, this in turn led to the smaller ports landing less fish as the buyers went to either Hull or Grimsby to obtain fish on a regular basis because of the guaranteed supply.
Due to overfishing, a European scheme to curtail the amount of fish landed led to a decommissioning scheme throughout the 1990s and into the early part of the 21st century. Fishermen and women were encouraged to scrap their boats and forfeit their licences in return for a government grant to compensate them. Money awarded to applicants fluctuated with demand and specific food fish (at times, only the whitefish boats were needed to sign up for the scheme.) In 2001, the UK Government were paying £1,684 per gross tonne of vessel.
By the start of the 21st century, the fishing industry in Yorkshire was using five main methods of catching fish; Potting Gill netting Trawling Scallop dredging Intertidal netting.
On the section of the Yorkshire coast between Flamborough Head and Spurn Point (the Holderness Coast), the fishery now only lands crab and lobster.
After the public vote for Brexit, a government sponsored report stated that over 6,500 people throughout Yorkshire were directly involved in the fishing industry. This placed the Yorkshire and Humber region as second only in size to Scotland, which is the largest fishing industry sector in the United Kingdom. Additionally, the post-Brexit scenario could include fishing fleets operating from Yorkshire ports being denied the rights to fish in waters off of Norway and Iceland.
Commercially, fish is landed at only four Yorkshire ports (Bridlington, Hull, Scarborough and Whitby) though not all fish landed at these ports are from fleets registered at those ports. Additionally, the port at Whitby has suffered from a lack of investment in its infrastructure, so much so, that some fishing boats registered at Whitby travel to the dock at North Shields, to the north to unload their catch. Even so, the catch landed in Yorkshire represented a value of over £16 million in 2017.
In 2021 the shellfish and lobster fishing industry suffered as a result of Brexit. Health checks, catch certificates and customs declarations were introduced by the EU at the start of 2021, which delayed deliveries resulting in European customers rejecting some UK products. The impact of the changes were described by Boris Johnson as “teething problems” exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2021 the Yorkshire lobster exporter Baron Shellfish, based in Bridlington, which was Europe's largest shellfish port, ceased trading, citing difficulties exporting to the EU as a result of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Whitby has the only fishing school in the United Kingdom, which aims to afford training to young apprentices in the various fishing trades on offer around the coasts of Britain.
Ports During the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, the following locations were known as having fishing boats working from them. These are listed from north to south; +NameExtantFishery typeApprox no. boatsFish landedPeriodNotesRefSouth GareYesSmall-scaleTenCodling, plaice, sole turbot, eelsSeasonalCoathamNoSmall-scaleRedcarYesSmall-scaleEleven (five full-time)Cod, whiting, plaice, sole, turbot, crab, lobsterYear roundMarskeYesSmall-scaleThree (one full-time)Crab and lobsterYear roundSaltburnYesSmall-scaleOneCod, flatfish, lobster, crabYear roundSkinningroveYesSmall-scaleFourWhitefish, lobster, salmon, sea troutYear roundStaithesYesSmall-scaleFourCod, sole, plaice, codling, lobster, crabYear roundPort MulgraveYesSmall-scaleTwoCrab, lobsterSummer onlyRunswick BayYesSmall-scaleTwoFlatfish and shellfishYear roundSandsendYesSmall-scaleTwoCrab, lobsterSpring to AutumnWhitbyYesCommercialTwentycod, haddock, whiting, plaice, lemon sole, sole, rays, dogfish, nephrops, red mullet, saithe, sea bass, pollack, conger eel, brown crab, velvet crab, lobster, salmon, sea trout, mussel, squidYear roundWhitby also has visiting boats from outside the Yorkshire AreaRobin Hood's BayYesSmall-scaleFiveCod, crab, lobsterSeasonalScarboroughYesCommercialTwenty-nineCod, haddock, whiting, lemon sole, plaice, ray, Dover sole, codling, queen scallop, crab, lobsterYear roundScottish vessels catching shellfish also land their catch in ScarboroughFileyYesSmall-scaleFiveCod, lobster, sea trout, soleYear roundFish are generally landed from autumn to spring, with lobster fished during the summerFlamboroughYesSmall-scaleSixCod, ling, pollack, sea bass, lobsterYear roundAs at Filey, the catch changes with the time of year with three boats at the North landing and three at the South landingBridlingtonYesCommercialThirty-eightShellfish, cod, sole, sea bass, plaice, turbot, sea trout, salmonYear roundNo boats are based in Bridlington, but nearly 40 boats land their catch thereBarmstonNoSmall-scaleHornseaYesSmall-scaleEightSole, cod, whiting, crab, lobsterYear roundAldboroughNoSmall-scaleTunstall and WithernseaYesSmall scaleFifteenCrab, lobster, codYear roundBoats also fish in Withernsea, and the two ports are interchangeablePatringtonNoSmall-scaleEasingtonNoSmall-scaleKilnsea, Spurn Point and Stone CreekYesSmall-scaleOne (some seasonal)Cod, flatfish, crab, lobsterYear roundPaullNoSmall-scaleHullYesCommercialElevenCod, haddock, crab, brown shrimp, dab, sole, plaice, flounder, eelYear roundWhitefish is still an important industry in Hull, with most catch being landed at the port already frozen
Those shown in bold, still land fish commercially in the 21st century.
Detailed history of ports Coatham The name Coatham derives from cot-ham, a sheltered homestead. It is believed that boats could rest up at Coatham when the weather was bad. Some fishing activity was engaged in here and it was a market town since 1257 compared to the tiny fishing village of Redcar. Both Redcar and Coatham are a contiguous urban area now.
Redcar The fishing industry at Redcar started in the early 14th century. Fishing has been mostly crab and lobster, though during the 20th century, the numbers of boats has been in decline. Line fishing for cod was also undertaken sporadically, but the fishery was largely an inshore concern and the local fishermen say that the cod gave gone further north for colder waters.
Saltburn Saltburn was always a low-key fishing endeavour as it was largely a new town created in the 19th century in an effort led by Henry Pease. The settlement came under the Parish of Marske and was developed as a new resort in the 1860s, therefore it does not have the same centuries-old fishing histories such as Redcar, Whitby or Robin Hood's Bay. It still has a small-scale fishing operation.
Skinningrove