Haaf Net Fishing
A traditional method of fishing brought to Britain by the Vikings
Haaf net fishermen walking the mudflats to fish in the Solway Firth
image: Wikimedia
(click on the images to enlarge)
Haaf fishing nets
image: Wikimedia
The word ‘haaf’ comes from Old Norse haf, n, the sea esp. the high sea, ocean; sigla (láta) í h., sigla á h. út, to put to sea; hann dó í hafi, he died at sea. 1 It is cognate with Danish hav and Swedish haf both meaning sea or ocean.
“Perhaps the most famous Solway fishing activity is haaf netting, which, in the past, involved a poke net fixed toa beam twelve of fourteen feet long, but nowadays more likely eighteen feet in length. Some three or four fishers might take part, with the mouth of the net facing the stream. However, in the eighteenth century, it was stated that twelve to twenty men, known collectively as a ‘Mell’, might stand abreast out into the channel, ‘up to the middle, in strong running water, for three or four hours together’. Since the word haaf, ‘sea’, is Scandinavian it is assumed that the practice was brought to the Solway by the Vikings, significantly large numbers of whom settled on the southern hinterland. Today it is proving difficult to attract youngsters to the sport for which there was at one time a lengthy waiting list occasionally depending on heredity.” 2
The Technique
“The haaf net is carried out over the sands to fish in the later stages of the ebb and the first of the flood tide. Unlike most other forms of netting, the haaf net is manned continuously. The fisher stands in the middle, holding the beam against the current and holding the net. The flow of the water makes a bag of net either side for the fish to swim into. If a fish is felt (a tug), the haaf has to be lifted quickly to prevent the fish swimming away. Fish can be retained, or released, in seconds completely unharmed.” 3
In the 1870s, Spencer Walpole reported that haaf net fishing was taking place in the estuaries of the Lune and Ribble in Lancashire, and in the Severn Estuary in Southwest England. 4
Footnotes
1 Zoëga, G. T., (1972), “ A Cocise Dictionary of Old Icelandic”, OUP, pp 178-9.
2 Cowan, E.J. (2018)”Scotland’s Forgotten Frontier Littoral: The Solway Firth”, in The New Coastal History: Cultural and Environmental Perspectives, Worthington, D. (ed), Palgrave Macmillan, p228
3 Annan Haaf Nets – Haaf Netting in Annan – Annan Online: How does a haaf net work?