Fishing has shaped the landscapes and communities along the South West Coast Path for centuries. From Somerset’s herring lookouts to Cornwall’s pilchard cellars and Devon’s pioneering trawlers, the coast is lined with harbours, quays, and villages whose identity has always been tied to the sea.

Fishing in both Cornwall and Devon has seen boom and bust. Pilchards and herring collapsed in the 20th century, but the industry adapted. Shellfishing now supports many harbours, hand-lining for mackerel has revived, and sustainable trawling at Brixham and ring-netting for Cornish sardines keep traditions alive.

Walking the Coast Path today, you can still watch the dawn auctions at Newlyn or Brixham, take a mackerel trip from St Ives or Salcombe, or see huer’s huts standing on their cliffs. Fishing remains both a living industry and an enduring part of the cultural identity of the southwest coast.

Ancient Roots and Medieval Fisheries

Fish and shellfish have been a staple for Cornish people since the peninsula was first inhabited. By Tudor times, Cornwall’s fisheries were nationally important. Records from 1582 note nearly two thousand Cornish mariners, and in 1602 Richard Carew described Cornwall and Devon’s fisheries as surpassing those of the east coast.

Pilchards and the Huer’s Cry

Cornwall became famous for its pilchards, today more often marketed as Cornish sardines. From 1747–1756, some 30,000 hogsheads a year were exported from Falmouth, Fowey, Penzance, and St Ives – nearly 900 million fish, much of it bound for Italy. In St Ives, the catch of 1868 reached a record-breaking 5,600 hogsheads from a single seine net.

Lookouts known as huers stood on clifftops, watching for dark moving clouds of pilchards in the bay. On sighting them, they would cry “Hevva! Hevva!” and wave white bushes to signal the boats. Their huts still survive along the coast – the huer’s hut on Newquay’s Towan Headland is one of the best known. Walking the South West Coast Path, you’ll encounter these reminders of an industry that once sustained entire communities.

The two main methods then in use were seining – encircling shoals with huge nets weighted at the base and floated at the top – and drift netting, where nets drifted with the tide, snaring fish as they swam into them. Both techniques would dominate Cornwall’s fishing identity for centuries.

Changing Fortunes and Modern Fishing

By the mid-20th century, the pilchard shoals that had once made Cornwall rich had dwindled, with overfishing and competition from abroad taking their toll. Pilchard fishing virtually disappeared in the 1960s. Yet the industry adapted.

Ring-netting for Cornish sardines was revived in the 1990s, and today, around a dozen small vessels keep the tradition alive.

Shellfishing – for crabs, lobsters, and scallops – thrives in places like the Helford Estuary and along the Lizard.

Hand-lining for high-quality fish has seen a resurgence, supplying restaurants that now champion sustainable seafood.

Though fishing employs far fewer people than in its heyday, harbours like Newlyn, Padstow, Mevagissey, and St Ives remain bustling centres of the trade.

Padstow

Padstow was known for herring and later mackerel, with smokehouses producing Cornish kippers for wider markets.