44867: Gazette Report on the Herring Bonanza

Extract from Stornoway Gazette, 9 Dec 1926 giving an account of herring bonanza of that year.

The herring shoals in the lochs here are now too much for the small boats to cope with and larger boats and even steam drifters are hard at it. The quantity of herring encountered is said to exceed the large shoals that appeared in Loch Seaforth over thirty years ago.

The dwellers along the shore of Loch Erisort are never likely to forget the bustle that good fortune has bow brought to bear on their seclusion. The oldest generation, whose full years deny them participating in the pursuit of the moment, find pleasure in conjuring up scenes which they admit to be but poor parallels to this which they are now witnesssing. The plying of oars, the flapping of sails and the throbbing of approaching engines, combine to form a din that has hitherto been unheard in villages so remote among the heather. The unique silence that has for ages reigned supreme among the roadless Park hills is now being broken by shrill whistles commanding a right of way through the crowded Loch.

It is truly creditable to our fisherfolk that notwithstanding the exceptional opportunity for earning, Thanksgiving Day was observed with as high reverence as on former occasions.