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Date:12/05/2021
Museum opening
Berwick Museum & Art Gallery re-opens on 19th May 2021. Initially it…
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Date:19/04/2021
Border marriages
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Salmon net fishing on the River Tweed below Paxton House, 2006. Photo: © Les Hull and licensed under Creative Commons Licence.
Salmon net fishing on the River Tweed can be traced back to the 12th century. Up to the 1980s net salmon fishing employed hundreds of men annually on a seasonal basis. Since then netting salmon on the River Tweed has contracted substantially, with only two fishing stations remaining in order to conserve salmon stocks.
A fascinating history of the salmon fishing industry can be found on the Tweed Foundation website. Here are four links from this website for those interested in the history of net and rod fishing on the Tweed and the Eye:
History of Salmon and Sea Trout Net Fisheries, Tweed & Eye
History of Salmon and Sea Trout Rod Fisheries, Tweed & Eye
History of Brown Trout fishing, Tweed & Eye
Grayling fishing Tweed catchment
Pictured, in 1956, are sisters Grace and Annie Meston, employees at the former premises of Ralph Holmes & Sons in Bridge Street, Berwick. The salmon was caught at the North Bells Fishery, and weighed in at 38¼ pounds © Berwick Record Office, BRO 1944-1-1341-3
Banner image: (a) see main picture above; (b) An early twentieth century image of salmon fishing on the River Tweed © Berwick Record Office.