The majority of the men of Gairloch are fishermen. The two sea-lochs of the parish, viz., the Gairloch and Loch Ewe, teem with the finny tribe, which are largely taken by the people, and are either exported or afford an important and healthful article of diet. The most considerable fishery of Gairloch is the cod, saythe, and ling fishery, which will be described further on. Besides the large number of cod, saythe, and ling taken during the regular annual fishery, under the auspices of the firms who have their depots at Badachro, a moderate quantity of these fish is taken in Gairloch and Loch Ewe by other inhabitants. Good takes of haddock are frequently obtained, but there is no organized haddock fishery. Whiting, flounders, and sea-bream are also taken in Gairloch waters. Haddock, whiting, flounders, &c., are captured by means of long lines as well as hand lines. The haddock are particularly good. I have known whiting taken up to two and a half pounds weight. Hand-line fishing is treated of in [Part IV., chap. xiv].

Herrings are taken in Gairloch and Loch Ewe; in some years considerable numbers are cured at and exported from Badachro. Ordinary herring-nets are employed.

Many of the able-bodied men of Gairloch take part in the herring fisheries of the Long Island and of the east coast of Scotland. Some have boats of their own; these are the joint property of several fishermen, who divide the annual profits among them. Others hire themselves out to assist east coast fishermen. The Long Island fishing usually occupies the fishermen from 12th May to 20th June, and the east coast fishing keeps them from home between the end of June and the beginning of September. The produce of the fishings is uncertain, and varies greatly from year to year. I understand that the Gairloch men who go to the east coast herring fishings bring home on an average £18 to £20 each; the amount is affected not only by the success or non-success of the fishery, but by losses of nets and even of boats.

Lobsters and crabs are exported from Gairloch; but this fishery is not so successful as formerly, owing to the decline in the number of lobsters. It is prosecuted at several of the villages on the coasts of Gairloch and Loch Ewe, and the produce is sent in boxes to the English markets.

Oysters were formerly tolerably abundant on the scalps about the heads of Gairloch and Loch Ewe, and up to 1875 were exported. At that time a London firm leased some oyster-beds, which have however ceased to be remunerative.

The cod fishery of Gairloch may almost be said to be historical. We can at least find some account of it as far back as a century and a half ago.

The historian of the Mackenzies records, that the tenants of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, ninth laird of Gairloch (who ruled Gairloch from his coming of age in 1721 to his death in 1766), "were bound to deliver to him at current prices all the cod and ling caught by them, and in some cases were bound to keep one or more boats, with a sufficient number of men as sub-tenants, for the prosecution of the cod and ling fishings. He kept his own curer, cured the fish, and sold it at 12s. 6d. per cwt., delivered in June at Gairloch with credit until the following Martinmas, to a Mr Dunbar, merchant, with whom he made a contract, binding himself for several years to deliver at the price named all the cod caught in Gairloch."

In Pennant's "Tour" ([Appendix B]) we have some interesting particulars about the Gairloch cod fishery. He states the average annual capture as varying from five to twenty-seven thousand; the price as 2¼d a piece, and the minimum size as eighteen inches. The fish in his day (1772) were sent to Bilboa, but he says the Spaniards rejected the ling.

The Rev. Daniel M'Intosh, in the Old Statistical Account, 1792 ([Appendix C]), says, "Gairloch has been for many years famous for the cod fishing. Sir Hector M'Kenzie of Gairloch, the present proprietor, sends to market annually, upon an average, betwixt thirty and forty thousand cod, exclusive of the number with which the country people serve themselves."

Sir George S. Mackenzie, in his "Survey," published in 1810, has the following interesting account of the Gairloch cod fishery as it was carried on in the time of Sir Hector M'Kenzie:—