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A Fish
In Scotland, as elsewhere, a trout is a trout a cod is a cod but here a salmon is referred to as ‘A Fish’. Why should this be so? Let me quickly tell you the story about how a salmon has come to be known simply as A Fish, it won’t take long.
Watching Deadliest Catch on TV the other day brought home to me the how dangerous the sea is for those men who venture out to sea in pursuit of a living. These fishermen of Alaska were fishing the Bering sea in pursuit of Imperial Crab which fetches $4 a pound. In the process of making (and watching the film) we see a 90 foot boat side swiped by a massive wave, the boat capsized in an instant. The ship was lost with some of the crew and this happens most years.
Closer to home the story is no different. Scotland is a land of long rugged coastlines and good harbours with an ancient tradition of fishing the wild North Sea and the Minches for the harvest of cod, haddock and herring. The seas around the coast of Scotland are often tempestuous and unforgiving, raging in from the Atlantic and Arctic or from Norway across the North Sea, crashing into the unyielding shores of stoic Caledonia. As the storms rage their course they pass over the fleets of fishing boats and, from time to time, they take a boat and crush it sending boat and crew to a cold watery grave.
Over the centuries the bodies of the lost fishermen were rarely ever found, the fathers, brothers, sons and husbands were never to return to their homeland, leaving families to mourn by placing a stone upon an empty grave. In solace for their loss, fisher folk came to believe that the souls of those lost fishermen took on the form of the silver salmon, returning each year to the river of their birth bringing with then the bounty of the sea to be caught in the safety in our rivers. The spirits of the departed fishermen bringing food on the fin to feed hungry fatherless families in time of need.
So it came about that the salmon were referred to only as Fish, for surely in referring to A Fish by name you would usurp the baptism name already given to the souls of those lost fishermen.
Today this tradition is maintained and on the rivers of Scotland, you will hear anglers say that they have seen or lost or caught A Fish. Do not be confused that they might be referring to anything other than Salmo salar. By not naming the Fish, anglers continue to show respect for the sacrifice of those souls lost at sea.
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