Scottish Fisheries Museum - telling the history of fishing in Scotland through the years.
 

A Day at the Museum

Because the Museum is so large, we estimate that a full, guided tour would take a minimum of 1½ hours. We realise that many school groups may not wish to spend this long, or may have particular topics of interest to study in more detail. Therefore, we offer some ideas for putting together your own visit itinerary and a list of the shorter tours we offer, designed to cover different aspects of Scottish Fishing within the Museum:

Suggestions for your own itinerary:

Tour A The Fishing Community – People in the Past

Tour B The Boats and their Crew – People at Work

Tour C The Fishing Industry Today – Citizenship, Technology, Healthy Eating

Tour A

The Fishing Community – People in the Past

  • Fishing from the 7,000 B.C. to the age of steam - creating a timeline.
  • The right tool for the job - looking at different ways to catch fish from early spears, through creels and lines to modern nets
  • Victorian fisherman's cottage - fishing families, the work of wives and children, and their lives (food, clothing, pastimes)

  • The Herring Lassies - what was it like following the seasonal journey around the fishing ports of the East Coast? (working at the farlans, cloots, Scotch Cure etc.)

  • Support industries- net and rope-makers, coopers, blacksmiths, fish merchants
  • Comfort and support in times of trouble - the real 'price' of fish was men's lives (the Church, RNLI, RNMDSF)
  • Customs, superstitions, traditions and songs
(N.B. See the online Secondary Workbook to complement this topic)

Tour B

The Boats and their Crew – People at Work

  • Design and Technology - 19 full-size boats of different types from different areas of Scotland
  • Boat-building - tools and techniques
  • Historic boatyard - 11 boats from a ring-netter to a salmon coble
  • The development of the modern fishing boat- focus on the 78 foot long 'Zulu' Research
  • Possible links to our seagoing boats Reaper and White Wing in the Harbour
  • Fishermen - life on board, the wheelhouse, protective clothing, health and safety

Tour C

The Fishing Industry Today – Citizenship, Technology, Healthy Eating

  • Fish as food - types of fish, preservation (dried, slated, frozen, processed etc), changes in demand, how to cook it
  • Engines - the development of marine engineering and modern engines
  • Sonar, radar and computers - the influences of advances in technology on the fishing industry
  • Fishing grounds - who catches what where? Fishing control, quotas, conservation of stocks, changes due to global warming

(N.B. this topic is being developed and there are currently fewer resources)

N.B. You may wish to put together your own visit itinerary and we can assist in tailoring a visit to suit your needs. Please ring us on 01333 310628.

You could also combine your visit with other local attractions e.g.:
  • Town trail
  • Lifeboat
  • Isle of May boat trip
  • Anstruther's famous Fish and Chips

To find out what other teachers think of the Museum click here

Guided Tours Available:

Please indicate which Tour(s) you would like: each tour lasts around 45 minutes and could be rounded off with an unaccompanied walk through galleries not covered by the Guide. If your group needs more than one Guide, each group could follow the same tour or could take a different tour as required. Our Guides are Volunteers so please give sufficient notice for their availability.

  Themed Tours Areas and Galleries Covered
1 General The history of the Scottish fishing industry [All galleries at a basic level]
2 Fishing Methods The ways in which fish are caught by spear, trap, line and net (drift-netting, rrawling, ring-netting)
[Primitive Fishing Gallery, Days of Sail Gallery, Steam Gallery, Wheelhouse, Historic Boatyard]

3

 

 Fishing Boats The development of boats from sail to motor power, boat-building and the equipment used on board
[Zulu Gallery, Historic Boatyard, Engine Room]
4 Fisherfolk The working and domestic life of a fisher family, preparing and mending gear, gutting and selling fish
[Days of Sail Gallery, Herring Market, Memorial Room, Safety at Sea, Steam Gallery, Fish Shop,
Cottage]
5 Preserving our Fishing Heritage The purpose, and development of the Museum, Fishing Heritage its collections, their significance and issues of their care
[Days of Sail Gallery, Memorial Room, Steam Gallery, Exhibition Gallery, Zulu Gallery, Historic Boatyard]

Curriculum Links
Primary Curriculum Links
Secondary Curriculum Links

Planning your visit:

We recommend you take advantage of our free pre-visit. Please ring to arrange this by ‘phone first
(tel: 01333-310628)
If you have any questions, please ring or e-mail: enquiries@scotfishmuseum.org


We hope you enjoy your visit
Fish Museum in Scotland