Get in touch with your stories at bodach@obantimes.co.uk
In this series, The Oban Times’ resident Bodach (Gaelic: old man and, by experience, often a storyteller) looks through archive material for articles and pictures that preserve moments from the past. There is always a back story – and sometimes a future one.
IN THE early years of the 21st century some of Scotland’s fishermen were encouraged to decommission their boats. This was an exercise to protect fish stocks by limiting the number and capacity of vessels in commercial fishing operations. It seemed like a drastic measure at the time: the European Union insisted on perfectly serviceable boats being broken up, rather than sent to other parts of the world or used for purposes other than fishing. Owners were compensated, and skippers and crews moved to work on larger boats, found work ashore or retired.