Publications | Down Survey | 2002 Issue Contents

Kilkeel harbour: A fishing community
Gemma Reid

The strong sense of community identity and heritage at Kilkeel harbour is evident to anyone who takes some time to talk to the men working there. The harbour community is linked through a complex interweaving of family and friendship ties spanning several generations and the old stories, legends and superstitions are still remembered by men who learned to fish from their fathers and grandfathers. Fishing has been the most important source of income and one of the focuses for community life in the area, making a major contribution to Kilkeel's prosperity and growth. But the modern-day pressures of a European-led economy have had a significant impact on the local industry, imposing new demands and restrictions in the form of licences, quotas and bureaucratic regulations. A series of decommissioning programmes in response to the problems of over-fishing have reduced the fleet by around half since 1993 and more may be scrapped this year. This paper charts the history of the fishing industry at Kilkeel and relates a number of local fishermen's perspectives on its future.

Skiff Fishing
Commercial fishing in the area only became established in the mid-nineteenth century. Fish, especially hernng, were abundant in the bay but there was no harbour or shelter that would enable this resource to be exploited to its full potential. Very few earned a living solely from fishing and most of the local boats were owned by shop owners, farmers, tradesmen and entrepreneurs and fished on a limited seasonal basis. The small open sailing craft or 'skiffs' were moored to a dug out jetty at the mouth of the Kilkeel River or at a small harbour at Derryogue, west of the town.

In Mourne all fishing vessels between 18 and 35 feet were referred to as a skiff, unlike the rest of the County Down where a skiff was any length of boat with a pointed stern. Kilkeel skiffs were traditionally clinker-built, open, double-ended hoats between 24 and 28 feet with a low freeboard for rowing and rigged with a standing lug and jib, for speed and ease of manoeuvre. The fishing season started in June when line fishing for mackerel began. From the middle of August this was taken over by herring fishing with trammel nets, which lasted until late October. In the early afternoon, before putting out to sea, the crew would scan the sea watching for the 'hog'; the sign of the gabbocks that followed the herring shoals. They made for the fishing grounds in the evening, in order to shoot the nets before dark. It took a crew of 4-6 men to shoot and haul by hand the train of 4 or 5 nets, sometimes up to a mile and a half long. They returned at midnight, where often their families were waiting to help clean the nets and prepare the boat for the next night's fishing.^l

The Harbour
It was not uncommon for fishermen to lose their lives trying to get their boats ashore and larger trading vessels were forced to discharge their goods on the beach at Greencastle. The obvious need for a proper harbour to facilitate fishing as well as the export of local farm produce was answered by the building of the first pier in 1866. There were already around twenty fishing boats around Kilkeel, but the new pier could only accommodate up to twenty-four and so became inadequate almost as soon as it was finished. A series of piecemeal improvements were made from 1872 through a government grant and subscriptions from Lord Kilmorey and local merchants. Kilkeel - which ten years previously had been described as a small marketing town containing nothing of note² - thrived as a direct result. In September 1875 the Newry Telegraph reported that:

...large sums have been expended upon Kilkeel, which is now an important fishing station. During the season fifty luggers are constantly employed, eighteen or twenty of the boats belonging to the immediate neighbourhood. When it is recollected that the victualling of each lugger amounts to £4 a week, it will be perceived how great is the advantage reaped by the traders of Kilkeel.³

Plan of Kilkeel Harbour dated 1918, from the Major GW Reside Archive, Newry and Mourne Museum

Kilkeel developed into one of the most important centres for herring fishing along the east coast grounds, but the harbour still did not meet the needs of the booming industry. In 1880, harbourmaster Thomas Grills complained that he often witnessed boats forced to turn away towards Ardglass or Howth because the harbour was already full and argued that there should be at least accommodation for 200 boats as there were sometimes as many as 400 coming in during the herring season.⁴ In 1885 a further £7,400 was granted for building the South Pier and to strengthen the North Pier. What is now known as the 'Old Dock' was built in 1886, with mooring accommodation for ten coastal trading schooners. These vessels encouraged the export of potatoes, grain, granite and other local produce. But after the introduction of steam coasters trade began to be focused around the ports of Newry and Warrenpoint and fishing assumed the greater importance in Kilkeel - by 1890 its business accounted for more than a third of all herring landed in Ireland.

A Developing lndustry
The fishing boom was facilitated by an almost complete replacement of boat types in the late nineteenth century. Commercial competition demanded larger, faster, more efficient boats that could work the hugely profitable offshore grounds of the Irish Sea. The luggers developed in west Cornwall for mackerel fishing were superior in design, build, rig and equipment than local vessels and were equally suitable for herring fishing. They needed only small crews and could accommodate larger trains of nets, a combination of qualities that gave them a distinct competitive advantage. A large demand for this type of boat soon grew in the Isle of Man, Scotland and Ireland from the late 1860s.⁵ In 1875 William Paynter of St Ives established a boat yard at Kilkeel harbour, strategically placed to take advantage of this demand, where he built Cornish-style luggers, known locally as nickies, until 1883, when he returned to St Ives. His work was taken over by his apprentice John Mackintosh, and in turn by his son John, his grandson Harry and Bill Quinn, still a very well known face around the harbour.

In the early years of the twentieth century an export-based herring curing industry began to develop alongside the domestic fresh fish market, finding prosperous outlets in Europe and Russia, and later America. The local benefits of the herring industry were enormous. The revenue generated from fish sales and supplying the fleet had a large impact on the town's commercial prosperity and growth. Commercial growth also encouraged investment in the general fishing operations; the inner basin was constructed between 1913 and 1918 and the Rooney Road built to connect the east end of the town with the new dock, improving the capacity of the harbour and trading and transport links. At the same time fishing boats gradually converted to engine power. The first motorboat in Kilkeel was the Ellen Constance, bought by Lord Kilmorey in Lowestoft, but it was not until the 1930s that sailing craft were superseded by motor power.

The industry profited from inflated prices during and after World War One, but the post-war economic slump caused a dramatic decline. The problem was made worse by government protection of English and Scottish fishing industries and an overall decline in local fish stocks. Yet, although the volume and value of hernng fell sharply, the resultant drop in the level of outside input meant that local men were still able to make a decent living from existing resources. The brunt of the post-war collapse was also born by the cured herring export industry, again much of which was carried on by outsiders. The early herring season, which lasted from April to midJuly, was worked only by local boats and directed primarily at fresh markets. In 1930 earnings in this period averaged £200 per head, on top of what local fishermen could gain from July onwards during the main season.⁶ This was a substantial income when it is considered that apart from the skipper, who was often a full or part owner of the boat, fishermen only received a portion of the proceeds of each catch on a share basis.

Again extra capital and commercial competition spurred technical improvements. When Scottish boats began to work the Co Down coast around 1923-4, Mourne fishermen took note of their modern equipment and working methods and began to purchase similar boats with powerful engines and winches through loans and grants available from the government. They also adopted the seine net, which meant deep-feeding species such as whiting, cod, sole and plaice could be caught. The first local boat to try the seine net was the Tusker, owned by Henry J Doyle, followed by the Winifred, owned by Fishers of Newry and the Peace and Plenty, owned jointly by Tom Chambers, George Chambers and James Henry MacBride.⁷ The winter whiting fishery that grew steadily from the 1920s was by the end of the 1930s tremendously important for the region. Whiting fishing demanded different equipment, skills and technical knowledge, and introduced an additional fishing season between November and March to the herring season from April to September, significantly changing the pattern and lifestyle of the local industry. More men were able to gain their sole living from fishing and the business began to attract a greater proportion of the younger generation, who had previously considered the occupation too uncertain and unpredictable.⁸

Another major change in the industry during the 1950s prompted a new wave of development and growth. In 1954 David Wilson asked Bill Quinn to make a prawn trawler for his boat, the Mary Joseph, the first in Mourne to convert to a trawl.⁹ Prawns had merely been seen as inedible creepy crawlies and thrown back overboard. But demand for them outside the area proved great and other boats soon followed, including the Bonny Roy, Seamew, Ambitious and Water Lily. Prawn fishing required less capital expenditure than the larger seine fishing boats and therefore it was comparatively easier to make a profit. Prawn fishermen made about £ 150 a week for lighter, easier work and it wasn't long before the skippers on the larger boats began to find it difficult to attract crewmembers.¹⁰

During the 1950s the South Pier was closed for redevelopment, including the enlargement of the inner basin and the construction of a fish market and slipway. But by the 1960s the inner basin had again become over-congested, which prompted the government and Down County Council to embark on a major improvement scheme. The harbour was closed from 1971-3 during which time the Kilkeel fleet operated from Warrenpoint. The present inner basin was constructed, doubling the size of the harbour, a new quay was built and the harbour was deepened. The harbour was reopened by Lord Grey, Governor of Northern Ireland on 21 st May 1973."

Modern times
Since then the harbour has been managed by the Northern Ireland Fishing Authority, which finished off the work on the slipway and installed lighting and electricity points. Further improvements have included building net stores, two more slipways, two more carriages and an ebbing-on berth, modifying the pier, increasing ice manufacture and storage facilities and providing a dredger. The fishing fleet has continued to grow in size and prosperity, Kilkeel becoming the largest and most up-to-date harbour in Ireland. In 1973 there were 55 fishing vessels in Kilkeel, landing 6,415 tonnes of fish valued at £750,577. By 1986 the number of boats had risen to 99, landing 8,419 tonnes of fish worth £4.8million. In 1990 the annual turnover had reached £10 million. Between 1989 and 1990 the revetment bank was removed and replaced by a new north quay providing berthing space for an additional 70 boats, increasing the total capacity to 150 or more.

Until recently there were approximately 1200 people employed directly or indirectly in the fisiiing industry at Kilkeel with around 120 boats based in the harbour. Local fishermen are now competing in a European market, requiring larger boats equipped with echo sounders and sonar to locate fish, Decca and radar to navigate and net haulers to ease the backbreaking work. The trawlers range from between 24 and 40m and can stay at sea for up to 16 days. A high level of capital investment is needed to purchase a licence, a boat and equipment, in addition to ongoing maintenance and crew costs, and fishermen must work much longer hours to meet their loan repayments. The five-day week no longer exists and even if a crew member takes a break another man will take his place to ensure the boat runs constantly. But because fishing is inherently unpredictable, being heavily reliant on weather conditions and the erratic movements of fish, a regular income is never guaranteed. Overproduction and over-fishing has become a major problem and severely restrictive quotas have been introduced in an effort to conserve fish stocks. Since 1993 the government has sponsored a number of decommissioning schemes, reducing the fleet through a form of 'voluntary redundancy' that offers fishermen a fair sum of money to give up their licence and have their boat scrapped.

It is difficult to ascertain the exact impact of these developments as government statistics have only been compiled up to 1999. But the fleet's decline has been deeply felt by the tight-knit community at Kilkeel Harbour, and in the surrounding area, which has been largely dependent on the income generated from fishing. The author conducted a series of interviews aiming to record contemporary experiences and perspectives, particularly in relation to the recent effects of the decommissioning schemes. The selection of excerpts below illustrates the issues and concerns common to many at the harbour.

Gregory Nicholson, of Nicholson Decommissioning Ltd.
Gregory's father was a fisherman, fishing for Billy McCullough on the Spes Magna until he bought his own boat, the Elim Grove, in the early eighties. Gregory started fishing on his father's boat and later bought the Pelican with him. After a few years they bought the Vi-Ray, named after his father and mother, Raymond and Violet. Gregory also owned several other boats, the Ocean Monarch a pelagic fishing boat skippered by Martin Nicholson, and the Valour, a prawn boat like the Vi-Ray, skippered by Brian Cunningham. The time needed on shore for maintenance anc repair work on these boats meant that Gregory ended up employing Brian Glenny as skipper for the Vi-Ray and only fishing the Morning Dawn, a small lobster boat, during the summer.

The Vi-Ray, owned by Gregory Nicholson, being broken up on the beach at Kilkeel (Copyright © Lenny McLaughlin)

Gregory was tired of the work it took running the four boats and decided to decommission the Ui-Ray during the first round in 1993. He sold the Ocean Monarch to Austin Crawford, which was later scrapped, the Ualour to a man in the south and the Morning Dawn to Billy McCullough's son Arnold. He started a decommissioning business after scrapping the Ui-Ray himself and subsequently receiving work from other owners to dismantle their boats. Gregory has scrapped about 77 boats to date, most of which have been decommissioned, but some bought without licences for the parts. He knows many of the boat owners and their families well and finds it sad they have been forced to give up fishing after thirty or forty years. But many men were in such serious debt they were glad of the opportunity decommissioning provided. The quotas and extra regulations, along with the expense of licensing and running a boat, have made it very difficult for fishermen to make a decent living. When there is no money it is difficult to find or keep crew. The future of the harbour is now seriously in question; decommissioning has reduced the fleet to about half of what it once was and about thirty more may go in the next round.

Hubert Annett, marine engineer and fisherman
Hubert's father, Albert Annett started a boat maintenance business at the harbour around 1941 on the site of the present harbour master's office. After he left school Hubert was apprenticed to him for five years, along with his friend, Robert McKee. When his father died in 1979, he and his older brother, who trained as an electrician, took over the business and bought new premises on the pier. At that time fishing was at a high and they were installing four or five new engines a year. His eldest son Jeffrey was also apprenticed to the business; at one time they employed about sixteen men. However, by August 2000 lack of business had forced them to close. The decommissioning scheme, tight quotas and lack of capital grants meant the fishermen were not making the same investments and there was only just enough business for two days work a week. Hubert now works for the harbour master's office doing boat repairs and maintenance.

Hubert Annett, marine engineer and fisherman, Kilkeel (photograph by Fiona Clarke, 2002)

The family have also always had an involvement with fishing. Hubert and his brother had a skiff they fished nightly during the herring season, while maintaining their full-time day jobs at the same time. Around 1980 they bought their first trawler, the Almar A, named after their father and mother, Albert and Margaret. It was skippered by Charlie Shields and was decommissioned in 1995, when he and his brother broke up their partnership and Hubert bought the Sea Farer with three of his sons. They have owned three other boats, the Ross Beg, Olive Tree and Maria (renamed Almar A), and are thinking about looking for another one.

But Hubert's family are concerned about the possible closure on cod fishing and are waiting for the imminent EEC decision before acting. Hubert is a board member of the Anglo-Irish Fish Producing Organisation, which has put forward several proposals for conserving fish stocks. The decommissioning scheme has naturally reduced the fleet and the restrictive quotas and the closure on cod spawning has already started to replenish stocks. But Hubert is suspicious that EEC policies will favour Spain and undermine the British fishing industry to the point of extinction. The fishermen are already so tied up in bureaucracy and paper.~work that they are starting to want out. Many of those that didn't decommission their boats in the last round say they will take the opportunity if it is offered this year. They are dependent on the EEC, but Hubert feels it should be left to the local fishermen to make the necessary decisions to ensure their own future.

Frank Maginnis, retired fisherman
Frank's grandfather worked for Fishers of Newry and went skiff fishing during the herring season. His father was also a fisherman, working as a net man for Ernie McKee amongst others. Although they went fishing during the holidays as teenagers, at first both Frank and his brother trained as carpenters. However, at that time fishing was a much better livelihood and after a few years Frank began working for Sammy Teggarty on the Harriet Ethel. He later fished on the prawn trawler, the Melita, and eventually he and his brother bought out the owner, Louis Campbell in 1971. It was much more expensive to pay for a white fishing boat, so it was easier to get started on prawn fishing. Both Frank's children were brought up around the harbour and are skilled sailors. His son Ian often helped his father with the maintenance of the boat and earned some extra money fishing during the holidays. He would have loved to carry on the family tradition but in the last few years the boat was running at a loss and therefore it was not viable. Ian would not have been able to finance a larger, more up-todate boat that would have enabled him to make a proper living. Frank and his brother chose to decommission the Melita at Christmas 2001, after both experienced health problems. Frank now makes models of local boats in his spare time.

Frank Maginnis, retired fisherman (photograph by Fiona Clarke, 2002)

Frank was able to come home every night to be with his family, who watched for his boat coming in at the harbour. But the money fishermen now need to make to run a boat means they have to work much harder. The problem of depleted fish stocks makes it even more difficult to make a proper living and fishermen only manage to get home maybe once every two weeks. Nobody is making money at the minute, even factory workers earn more than the fishermen, and the atmosphere at the harbour is very depressed. Many local businesses are dependent on the success of the harbour, and so the life of the town has also been badly affected.

Howard Forsythe, retired fisherman
Howard's grandfather Robert McKee was greatly admired for his navigational skills. He worked on the coastal schooners as well as the local nickies during the hernng season and owned his own small skiff that he kept at the mouth of the river. His father had been a stonemason in Ballinra, but when the family moved to Kilkeel to look after his grandfather, he caught the bug and spent the rest of his life fishing. He had a skiff called the Marie Alice and Howard started fishing on the boat from the age of thirteen.

Howard worked on several other boats, including the Elizabeth Buchan, built by Harry Mackintosh for a man from the Isle of Man. His first skipper job was on the Bonnie Roy, owned by Charlie Campbell, when his brother, who had been the skipper, left him in charge. He bought his first boat, the Castle Dawn, with the help of a local fish buyer, but lost it in 1958 during a bad storm. After that he bought a steel boat, also called the Castle Dawn, which is still fishing today under his son, Peter. Peter started fishing as soon as he left school and when he got his skipper's ticket Howard left him in charge, as his brother had done for him. Peter now has the largest share in the boat, and Howard mends the nets and looks after the gear for him.

Fishing is a hard life, but Howard couldn't imagine doing anything else. He crewed with the same men for many years, most of them family, old friends and neighbours. He has fished from the Shetland Islands right round to the east coast of England, at one time following the herring for a whole twelve months. Now the quotas and licences mean that the fishing grounds are severely restricted. The herring fishing has been closed down altogether and the same thing is about to happen with the cod. There is only half the fleet there once was in the harbour and the future is looking very uncertain for his son. It is almost impossible to find young men to crew and most of the skippers want to give it up altogether. One of Howard's grandsons fishes with him on his own small boat and can talk of nothing else, but the way things are going he doesn't see there being a next generation of fishermen.

The depressed atmosphere at Kilkeel harbour has been very evident in recent months, especially over the Christmas period, usually a difficult time for fishermen made worse by bad weather and the threat of closure on cod fishing. However, the local fishing industry has a healthy history of adaptability and versatility that has ensured its continued success through economic hardships of the past. Although to many the future is now uncertain for Kilkeel's fishing fleet, also evident is a pragmatism and a willingness to adapt to survive. Adapting to an increasingly globalised economic world may mean a further step away from the traditions of kinship and friendship that have held the local industry together, but fishing is too ingrained in Kilkeel's identity to be lost completely. No matter how the modern industry changes in the future, it is hoped that the heritage and traditions preserved through the stories of generations of local fishermen and their families continue to be respected.

Gemma Reid is the Museum Assistant at Newry and Mourne Museum. She has also worked for the Irish Linen Centre/Lisburn Museum, The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and the National Trust.

Acknowledgements
Thank you to Herbert Annett, Howard Forsythe, Gregory Nicholson and Frank and Sheila Maginnis for generously sparing their time and thoughts and to Bill Quinn who has become an invaluable source for the Museum. Thanks also to Wes Forsythe of the Centre of Maritime Archaeology, University of Ulster, Coleraine, for his advice and assistance.

1.	Mourne Observer, Sailing Ships of Mourne (Newcastle, Co Down, revised edition 1995). Back to text
2.	A Picturesque Handbook to Carlingford Bay (1856) Back to text
3.	Quoted M McCaughan, 'Ulster Boat Types in Old Photographs', Ulster Folklife (Vol. 28, 1982), 47. Back to text
4.	M McCaughan, 'Dandys, Luggers, Herring and Mackerel: A local study in the context of the Irish Sea fisheries in the nineteenth century'. In M McCaughan and J Appleby (eds) The Irish Sea: Aspects of Maritime History, (Belfast 1989), 121-133. Back to text
5.	Ibid. Back to text
6.	V Pollock, 'Change in the County Down Fisheries in the Twentieth Century'. In M McCaughan and J Appleby (eds.) The Irish Sea: Aspects of Maritime History, (Belfast 1989), 135-144. Back to text
7.	Mourne Observer, Sailing Ships of Mourne, (Newcastle, Co Down, revised edition 1995). Back to text
8.	V Pollock, 'Change in the County Down Fisheries in the Twentieth Century'. In M McCaughan and J Appleby (eds.) The Irish Sea: Aspects of Maritime History, (Belfast 1989), 135-144. Back to text
9.	The Mary Joseph was first registered in Newry in 1877 and fished for almost one hundred years before being given for care to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. Back to text
10.	Mourne Observer, Sailing Ships of Mourne, (Newcastle, Co Down, revised edition 1995). Back to text
11.	Before cutting the ribbon across the entrance of the new inner harbour, Lord Grey embarked on a short journey to the open sea on the Castle Dawn, owned by skipper Howard Forsythe. Back to text