The JANUARY Editorial
The Mystery of the Missing Shrimps By Roger Turner PART 1 The Oxford English Dictionary describes them as “small free-swimming edible crustaceans with ten legs”. So what are they? Why, shrimps of course! The Thames estuary was once prolific with brown shrimps, long regarded as a real delicacy. Instead of trawling, shrimpers at Herne Bay used 6-8ft wooden-framed nets which they pushed through shallow waters at low tide, the favourite area being off the town’s West Cliff. At one time up to 30 shrimpers, among them the Mounts, Holnesses and Pressleys, were actively involved. Although a seasonal occupation, it was a useful sideline. Willow baskets, supported with a leather strap and slung over their backs, could hold up to seven gallons and to conserve stocks the catch was sieved. A gallon, in the 1930s was worth 2/- (10p). Shrimping proved a useful method of raising pocketmoney for Brian Mount while he was still at school. Brian, now aged 87, of Hampton Pier Avenue, Herne Bay, found a ready market for his catches during the 1930s by cycling around the local countryside and selling to customers in outlying areas. Both his father, Alf, and grandfather Arthur were keen shrimpers. Arthur made the wooden frames from “green sticks” cut from the coppiced trees at Thornden Wood, using old oars for the handles and knitting the netting. Our picture shows Brian’s son, Barry Mount, with a 30-year-old net made by his father. There was a glut of shrimps in the 1960s, and I have the records to prove it. The parttime “professionals” (including myself) were earning 8/- (40p) a gallon, or 1/- (5p) per pint. These were sold to local fishmongers, Newmans, Minters and Gladdens, retailing at 1/6 (7p) per pint. Shrimping attracted vast numbers of locals, particularly beach hut owners – who often cooked their catches and ate them on the beach – and visitors who were out for a feed. There were still some useful catches during the 1980s and 90s. But what happened after this remains a mystery, for shrimps in recent years have just about vanished from the Thames estuary. With beam-trawler activity long gone, over-fishing can be ruled out. Whatever the reason, the general theory is that as scavengers, shrimps have nothing to feed on now as the sea is “too clean”.
TO BE CONTINUED
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Issue 69.indd 19
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