Project FisHistory

Really interesting study using royal hunting records to document diversity & abundance of mammals & birds in C18th Spain, with insights into historical decline of e.g. lynx @ystadaucymru.bsky.social @leafyhistory.bsky.social @projectfishistory.bsky.social @jangeerthiddink.bsky.social

“Plan of the river at Conway in the county of Caernarvon"

Map yn dangos Conwy cyn i pont crog Thomas Telford chael ei hadeiladu. Ar y map gallwch weld ynys 'Claimed by Sir Roger Mostyn Bart.' lle adeiladwyd tŵr gogleddol y bont

Dyddiad: cyn 1796 Most/7289

Very exciting preliminary findings at today's half-way meeting for @projectfishistory.bsky.social @sosbangor.bsky.social

Thanks to the team for great contributions! @georginahunt.bsky.social @emilyphilly.bsky.social @leafyhistory.bsky.social @ystadaucymru.bsky.social @jangeerthiddink.bsky.social

I have a new paper out today in EARLY MODERN LITERARY STUDIES! In this one I talk about Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Here's a quick thread with some of my thoughts... 🧚‍♀️🐍
Link below to paper (freely available):
journals.shu.ac.uk/index.php/EM...

Does your town (or any you know of) have HERRING🐟 in their coat of arms/flag? Please reply tagging in @projectfishistory.bsky.social if so! @thefsbi.bsky.social @icesmarine.bsky.social @ystadaucymru.bsky.social

Ceredigion County (Wales)
Great Yarmouth (England)
Nefyn (Wales)
Scheveningen (NL)

Fantastic visit to Cefas this week, chatting with herring experts and channeling our inner ‘Raiders of the Lost Archives’ 📖🐟

@cefasgovuk.bsky.social @johnkpinnegar.bsky.social @georginahunt.bsky.social @emilyphilly.bsky.social

Hopefully lots of records on herring! 🐟

Beautiful illustration by @bighippoart.bsky.social clearly demonstrating the ecological importance of herring to a variety of seabirds, fish and marine mammals, off Rockabill, Co Dublin

Hi David, apologies! Hopefully I've fixed the issue! I'll DM you with the link :)

Webinar alert!
Join us for a project introduction, some early findings & find out how you can get involved.

When: Fri 5th Dec, 10am (GMT)
Where: Online (Teams)
Schedule: 20-30 minute presentation + Q&A

Interested? DM for a link to join!

Great to see this new & important paper on ecological degradation and shifting baselines in The Gulf 🐟🪸
tinyurl.com/rhyrs2y7

Picture of stone #fishweir Gored Tre-Castle, in the Menai Straits, a large fish trap thought to be medieval exposed at low tide, near #beaumaris, #isleofanglesey, #wales #fishweirs #CoastalHeritage

Back from a very successful trip to the IOM speaking with locals and visiting archives to piece together historical accounts of the herring fishery. We stumbled across these beautiful title page illustrations of marine biological station reports based on Puffin island in the late 1800s

Huge thanks to Dr Gareth Huws for a wonderful lecture yesterday evening, using the Plas Newydd & Bodrhyddan papers at @archpbu.bsky.social to explore the operation of Irish-Welsh estates.

Thanks to everyone who attended in person and online.

A pleasure to co-host with @historicirishho.bsky.social

We're currently visiting the Isle of Man and and hoping to speak with any active or retired herring fishers on the island 🐟Tomorrow we're diving into the @manxheritage.bsky.social archives! @georginahunt.bsky.social @emilyphilly.bsky.social

We're currently visiting the Isle of Man and and hoping to speak with any active or retired herring fishers on the island 🐟Tomorrow we're diving into the @manxheritage.bsky.social archives! @georginahunt.bsky.social @emilyphilly.bsky.social

This time last week our team were midway through an interdisciplinary research visit at the National library of Wales 📖 The marine scientists came away with a newfound appreciation for the art of deciphering handwriting! @ystadaucymru.bsky.social @leafyhistory.bsky.social @emilyphilly.bsky.social

Direct evidence of natal homing in an Atlantic herring metapopulation Herring return annually to their natal spawning sites, highlighting the need for sensitive coastal management.

New evidence in @science.org that herring🐟 spawn where they were spawned (natal homing) adds urgency to the work @projectfishistory.bsky.social is doing @sosbangor.bsky.social - identifying unmapped spawning areas using historical sources 📜 & living knowledge 🎣🗣️

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

'The town is wall'd and moated round, except where it joins to the castle or the sea. The castle is of a vast extent, and stands on a lofty promontory, which runs far back into the sea. There are computed to be upwards of two hundred sail of ships belonging to this place, emplloy'd in different branches of trade; the fishery upon this coast being very considerable; particularly the herring, turbet, ling, cod-fish, haddock, fluke, whiting, mackrel, and lobsters, great quantities of which are sent every season to London'

The book is really interesting! From my history of nature perspective there's an account of the fishes caught at Scarborough 🎣, the herrings of Yarmouth ⛵(@projectfishistory.bsky.social), and a fun description of the lions of the Tower of London 🦁 (who were sent by the Emperor of Morocco of course)!

“Big Mackerel Catch at Rhos” Postcard https://www.rhosfynach.co.uk/history.htm

Images of wood #fishweir wicker fence 2 meter tall on the shore #RhosonSea #ConwyCounty Borough, #Wales. Historical sources indicted used for seasonal fisheries for herring and mackerel late 19th century.
1/6
#maritimeheritage #oceandecadeheritage
#coastalhistory

It was great to present about our @projectfishistory.bsky.social research at #ICESASC25 and an honour to be on the shortlist for the best presentation! What a great week! @sosbangor.bsky.social @icesmarine.bsky.social

We're using a very wide range of sources to patch together maps of where and when herring used to spawn.

Great talk on using historical sources to map herring spawning grounds by @georginahunt.bsky.social for @projectfishistory.bsky.social.

Guess where we’ve been this week! Hint: you might see a dolphin or two here 🐬 #destinationx #huntforherring #fishfriday

Where are we today?📍Hint: it’s chucking it down! #herring #destinationx 🐟

We'll be visiting ports in Mid-South Wales e.g., Fishguard and Aberystwyth next week (2nd-4th September). If you're from the area and know anything about the Irish Sea herring fishery (past or present), or know someone who does, please get in touch here or at fishistory@bangor.ac.uk🐟

Beautiful scientific illustration in a Government fisheries report, 1884

-Electric ray caught off Scotland
-Herring measurements

@projectfishistory.bsky.social

On it!

Screenshot of newspaper article from 14/02/1828 in the Manks advertiser. "The failure of the herring fishery, and the great reduction in the value of agricultural produce, has affected every class in such a degree as to have reduced the island to almost a state of bankruptcy."

Screenshot of newspaper article from 24/04/1827 in the Manks sun. "There was never perhaps, a more trying season for the poor, than that which the last winter presented, the severity of which yet exists and will continue till Divine Providence supplies the herring and the potatoe"

Screenshot of newspaper article from 28/10/1826 in the Manks rising sun. "Distress in the isle of man- (Extract of a letter to a friend in Bath)- Douglas Sept 24- Our poor are in the most wretched state from the failure of the potatoe crops, and the utter unproductiveness of the herring fishery. Your friend Hughes is exerting himself, and, I trust will succeed in the laudable attempt he is making to rouse the gentry to ameliorate the miserable condition of the poor creatures who are at this moment suffering from disease and starvation. One poor woman nearly 80, he found yesterday on a bed of chips, without any covering but au old cloak, and the tiles actually commencing their work of destruction, for she was too feeble even to defend herself against so simple an enemy. .Another lie saw in a corner, with 4 naked children, without food. In short, be brings such accounts, as would open the hand of a miser, and draw the tear of compassion from the most harden'd heart. Soup is daily supplied to the poor ; but, alas ! these who have it in their power lo give are so few in this island compared with the vast numbers who are suffering the most absolute want, and the most abject misery, that without some pecuniary aid to assist us, our scanty supplies must soon cease."

HERRING & POTATOES 🐟🥔

Herrings and potatoes played a vital role in the annual prosperity of coastal communities such as the Isle of Man. In the 1800's unproductive fishing seasons and harvests left the poorest with no source of food and income.

black and white illustration of the electric ray Torpedo marmorata. Dorsal view. common name on page is the old British torpedo

balck and white ilustration of the smooth-hound Mustelus mustelus

Happy #SharkAndRayAwarenessDay 🦈 To celebrate these important ocean dwellers we've selected two illustrations from William Yarrell's 'History of British Fishes', Third Edition, 1859.

We have Torpedo marmorata, an electric ray and the smooth-hound, Mustelus mustelus