An Litir Bheag 1108

Bha ‘Pandore oysters’ ainmeil ann an Alba anns an naoidheamh linn deug. Bha iad mòr agus blasta. Bha iad co-cheangailte, ann an inntinn dhaoine, ri Prestonpans air cladach Linne Fhoirthe. Bha oitirean làn eisirean faisg air Prestonpans. Bhiodh na h-iasgairean an sin a’ dreideadh grunnd na mara airson eisirean.

Nuair a thàinig na rathaidean-iarainn, bha e furasta eisirean a chur air trèana gu ruige margaidh-èisg Bhillingsgate ann an Lunnainn. An uair sin bha cus iasgaich ann. Thàinig lùghdachadh mòr air na h-eisirean ann an Linne Fhoirthe.

Gu tuath air sin, ann an Linne Mhoireibh, bha Pandore oysters air an cur ris na h-eisirean a bha ann mu thràth. Bha iasgach gu leòr a’ dol. Ge-tà, ann an Courier Inbhir Nis, anns a’ Ghearran ochd ceud deug, seachdad ’s a dhà (1872), bha aithris ann gun robhar a’ dèanamh sgrios air stoc nan eisirean ann an Linne Mhoireibh. Bha iad a’ coireachadh iasgairean Sasannach. Bha na h-iasgairean a’ dreideadh agus a’ cumail nan eisirean gu lèir, co-dhiù bha na maoraich sean no òg. Bha iad a’ reic na seann fheadhainn. Agus bha iad a’ toirt leotha na feadhainn òga airson oitirean eisirean a stèidheachadh faisg air Lunnainn.

Bha feadhainn ag iarraidh air an riaghaltas smachd a thoirt air an iasgach. Ach tha e coltach nach do thachair sin.

Beagan seachdainean an dèidh don naidheachd seo a nochdadh ann an Courier Inbhir Nis, bha droch thachartas ann an Linne Mhoireibh. Bha sin faisg air Abhach. Bha grunn eathraichean beaga ionadail ag iasgach eisirean.

Dh’èirich a’ ghaoth. Chaidh eathar a chur thairis. Chaidh an triùir chriutha a bhàthadh.

Bha dithis bhràithrean am measg na triùir. Agus, na bu mhiosa buileach, bha bràthair eile, agus an athair, air an call ann an tubaist iasgaich a’ bhliadhna roimhe. Taobh a-staigh bliadhna, bha fichead duine à baile beag Abhach air an call ann an tubaistean mara.

Tha daoine a-nise ag amas air piseach a thoirt air suidheachadh nan eisirean ann an linneachan taobh an ear na h-Alba. ’S dòcha gum bi eisirean air an cur às ùr air grunnd na mara ann an Linne Mhoireibh.

Pandore oysters were famous in Scotland in the 19th century. They were large and tasty. They were connected, in people’s minds, to Prestonpans on the shore of the Firth of Forth. There were shellfish beds full of oysters near Prestonpans. The fishermen there were dredging the seabed for oysters.

When the railways came, it was easy to send oysters on a train to Billingsgate fish market in London. Then there was overfishing. A great diminution of the oysters in the Firth of Forth occurred.

North of that, in the Moray Firth, Pandore oysters were added to the oysters that were already there. A lot of fishing was occurring. However, in the Inverness Courier, in February 1872, there was a report that the stocks of oysters in the Moray Firth were being destroyed. They were blaming English fishermen. The fishermen were dredging and keeping all of the oysters, whether the shellfish were old or young. They were selling the old ones. And they were taking with them the young ones in order to establish oyster beds near London.

Some people were wanting the government to control the fishing. But it appears that didn’t happen.

A few weeks after this news appeared in the Inverness Courier, there was a bad occurrence in the Moray Firth. That was near Avoch. A few small local boats were fishing for oysters.

The wind arose. A boat was capsized. The three crew members were drowned.

There were two brothers among the three. And, even worse, another brother, and their father, were lost in another fishing accident the year before. Within a year, twenty men were lost from the village of Avoch in marine accidents.

People are now aiming to improve the oysters’ situation in the firths of the east of Scotland. Perhaps oysters will be put anew on the seabed in the Moray Firth.