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In English
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fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
customs, a conder, also called a huer or bulker, was a person who stood on high places near the sea coast
The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...
in times of herring-fishing to signal to the fishers which way the shoal of herrings or pilchard
"Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the ...
s passed—their course being more discernible to those who stand on high cliffs, due to the blue colour they cause in the water, than to those aboard vessels. In Cornwall, the huer would shout 'Hevva!, Hevva!' to alert the boats to the location of the pilchard shoals.
The term was also used to refer to the raised location where a conder stood.
References
* *"Conder". ''Oxford English Dictionary''. Oxford University Press. 2nd ed. 1989. History of fishing {{fishing-stub