River Scene This month FRED BURTON looks at the history of thecoracle.
THE ancient art of coracle fishing has been an important methodof fishing for centuries.
One of the earliest designs was the ku-dru or kowa from Tibet.The bible quotes an earlier craft called a quaffa, "Moses was foundin a basket type boat in the bulrushes". Most modern coracles are ofa basic design, i.e. a wooden frame and covered with an animal skin.
The coracles or similar crafts have been and are still usedthroughout the world including, India, Iraq, Vietnam and Britain.
The Irish boat called a "currach" was also used in Scotland. Itwas made of leather and wickerwork. The frame work is called"crannghail" in Gaelic.
These boats were also used to travel from island to island. Asthese crafts sit high on the water, which makes it very susceptibleto strong winds and currents, the coracle was initially only used tocross flooded rivers and streams.
Then someone came up with the idea "why not use two coracles witha net to fish for migrating fish like the salmon and sewin".
In Carmarthenshire on the Tywi, Teifi and Taf rivers, coracleswere used as the rivers had good runs of salmon and sewin (seatrout). For generations, families have passed this method of fishingdown the family line.
One such coracle man is Raymond Rees of Carmarthen.
Ray grew up in a coracle fishing family. His grandfather WilliamElias started coracle fishing at the age of 10 and fished until hewas 90. He was a builder of coracles and boats and taught his twograndsons Raymond and Brian Rees up on how to make the boats andnets.
Raymond was born and lived in a cottage under Carmarthen castlewalls. When he started grammar school he was not allowed to gofishing.
Although surrounded by anglers he was determined to follow ageneration of coracle men.
Twice a year, his grandfather used to send him to the "hide andskin shed" in Blue Street. There was an awful smell in the largeshed. The skins from the slaughter house were stacked shoulder highand covered in salt.
His job was to cut the tails off the cow hides. The tail hairswere coloured, so he had to separate them into individual colours.
These were then washed and spun by hand to make ropes for thenets during the winter months.
He made his first coracle at 18 before he was called up fornational service. His grandfather was not very pleased with hisefforts. It was not up to standard he said so he had to make anotherone.
The coracle is basically oval shaped. Willow or ash was splitinto laths one and one eighth inches wide and three sixteenthsinches thick, which are interwoven and used as a the main structure.Then twisted hazel or willow rods are woven to form a strong top orgunwale. The outer cover was originally of an animal skin, bullockor horse hide.
Then, when flannel was readily available that was used. A thinlayer of tar and pitch was painted on the cover to make itwaterproof. The pitch and tar was bought from the local gas and cokeworks in Morfa Lane.
The top of the boat was finished off with a strip of ash allaround the top. This protected the basket weave.
The seat was made of pine and the paddle of ash wood. After thewar, material was very limited. Calico was available but they had tosave their ration coupons to purchase calico.
These versatile craft were light, so could be carried on theback. Today some craft are made of fibreglass.
The nets were made of linen and hemp and cow's tails or,nowadays, nylon ropes. The coracle men hold the net during thedrift. The net is held on a rope with a mesh size of four inches,cork on the top, lead weights on the bottom of the net. The leadstrips were cut into one and three quarter inches wide and theweight varies according to the height of the water. It is experiencethat they judge the size and weight of the lead strips to be useddepending on river and conditions.
Ray knows the bed of the river and where the snags are. Of coursethe bed of the river can change every year so they have to becautious.
When was the best time to fish? "Cle Fwchwr" (meaning the tidebefore dark) is the best time for coracle fishing.
On summer nights, when there are no clouds, the saying goes "whenyou see seven stars in the sky then it is dark enough to fish".
The men draw lots for first place to start. They only fish atnight, although sometimes if there was a river flood or the tide iscoloured water, they would fish during daylight as the fish couldnot see the net.
Keeping 200 yards apart and working in pairs with the net 40 footwide and 18 inches deep, they would work the net on the river bottomfrom Carmarthen bridge down to Green Castle wood.
They would then carry the coracle and the catch back to theirstarting place. The season for Sewin starts on March 1 and goes toJuly 31. Salmon season was from June 1 to July 31.
There is a close season every weekend. Fishing must end onSaturday at 6am and cannot continue until noon on Mondays.
Licences Raymond was secretary of the Tywi Coracle Men'sAssociation for 20 years. He remembers when coracle licences werejust Pounds 1 a season and 50 licences were issued.
Today, there are just eight licences issued by the EnvironmentAgency and they cost hundreds of pounds a year.
One man who is a keen coracle enthusiast is Sir Peter Badge, whowas a stipendiary magistrate. He is now the president of the BritishCoracle Society. He collected a large quantity of coracles, manyfrom around the world.
They are now on display in the coracle museum at Cenarth. Themuseum is set in the grounds of a 17th century flour mill beside theCenarth falls and is well worth a visit.
There are many local variations to the design and covering of thecoracles with local rules governing the use of the boats.
Over recent years, there has been the cry, "where have all thefish gone?" Recently, there has been a significant reduction incatches of sewin and salmon.
Not only do the rod anglers complain of the lack of fish, butalso of coracle men. Ray said: "There does seem to have been a fewpoor seasons, but the early part of this season and towards the endof the angling season, the catches have been normal."
He thinks the lack of runs of sewin could be attributed totrawlers fishing close to our shores. He thinks there might also bea lack of food at sea, such as sand eels.
The sewin feed at sea, but it is somewhat a mystery where exactlythey feed. Ray thinks they feed about 20 miles out where the sandeel boats operate.
Of course, some of the experts blame pollution and global warmingfor the poor fish runs.
If there is less fish moving up the rivers to spawn then,ultimately, in future years there will be less fish to return to ourrivers.
His grandfather used to say: "If you have good wild brown troutstreams, you will have more sea trout in the rivers."
Ray, who was a fishmonger in Carmarthen market said: "We shouldhave a fishmonger in the town market, it seems only natural beingnear the sea with a good supply of fresh salmon and sewin daily whenin season.
"New rules make it an offence to sell, salmon or sewin without alicence. The coracle men have to tag all fish that they catch andsell."
The coracle is part our Welsh heritage and West Wales is the onlyplace in the world where coracles are still used to catch migratingfish.
These ancient skills must be preserved and passed on for futuregenerations.
.Fred has been fishing since the age of nine when his dad tookhim to fish the River Trent. He has been a angling journalist for 20years and is a qualified fly fishing coach.
"We should have a fishmonger in the town market, it seems onlynatural being near the sea." -- Raymond Rees
