Fishing Boats

Port Seton Harbour is one of the very few East Lothian harbours retaining a fishing fleet and today most of the boats appeared to be in the harbour.
The original Port Seton Harbour was built by the 11th Lord Seton in 1656 but had fallen into disrepair so in 1880 the local fishermen paid for a new and larger harbour which could accommodate the bigger boats used for drift net fishing. Especially important were the herring but now it's almost entirely lobster and prawns that are caught. During the 1970s there were 50 boats and 240 men working from there and sometimes they would be out for a week catching white fish in the North Sea. In 1993 new legislation was introduced reducing the British fishing fleet by a third and since then fishing stocks have declined so today there are very few boats left. There were 16 today but I have seen 22 there including the small boats for the lobster creels.

(April 27 and December 15 blips were taken at Port Seton Harbour)