Photo of the Month - May 2024
Voices of the Fergus
It is almost 18 years since the Government banned salmon fishing in the Fergus. A whole generation of young people have grown up in Clarecastle with no knowledge of the long tradition of fishing for salmon by net in the river. 14 boats or more set off from the Quay with the tides during the fishing season which originally ran from February to July. A way of life in boat-building, net-making, knowledge of the river etc. was ended with the ban.
To capture memories of those days, Clarecastle Heritage has been working on a project, “Voices of the Fergus”. This project is funded by iCan, a National Museum initiative delivered in partnership with the Heritage Council and Clare County Council. Paula Carroll of Cuimhneamh an Chláir was engaged to do the interviews.
So far, about 10 hours of professional recordings of some of the fishermen have been made for archival purposes. During the interviews, some rare fishing photos have been shown to us. If you have fishing photos, old licences, gear for mending nets, cork floats etc. or would like to add to the project in any way, please contact us.
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