A lave net is a type of

fishing net A fishing net or fish net is a net (device), net used for fishing. Fishing nets work by serving as an improvised fish trap, and some are indeed rigged as traps (e.g. #Fyke nets, fyke nets). They are usually wide open when deployed (e.g. by cast ...

used in river

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

, particularly in the

Severn Estuary The Severn Estuary () is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England (from North Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire) and South Wales (from Cardiff, Newport to Monmouthshire). Its very h ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and England to catch

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

. The lave net is a Y-shaped structure consisting of two arms called ''rimes'' made from willow, which act as a frame work to the loosely hung net. The handle is called the ''rock staff'' and is made of ash or willow. The arms are hinged to the rock staff and are kept in position while fishing with a wooden spreader called the ''headboard''. Fishermen wade out at low tide with lave nets on their shoulders to the fishing grounds, with the water up to their waists. The net is then opened and lowered into the outgoing tide which rushes through the net. With his fingers placed at the bottom meshes of the net, the fisherman then waits for the fish to hit the net. The last lave net fishermen in Wales promote the fishery as a tourist attraction at Black Rock,

Portskewett Portskewett ( or ) is a village and Community (Wales), community (parish) in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It is located four miles south west of Chepstow and one mile east of Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Caldicot, in an archaeologically sensitiv ...

, with the aim of maintaining its history and tradition. Demonstrations of lave net fishing can be watched on certain days from the picnic site at Black Rock. There are similarities with haaf net fishing, practised in the

Solway Firth The Solway Firth is an inlet on the west coast of Great Britain, forming part of the border between England and Scotland. The firth (a Scottish term for an inlet of the sea) divides Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) from Dumfries and Gallow ...

, where the fishermen stand waist deep in the water with large oblong nets. However, unlike haaf netters, lave net fishermen move around in the water. On the English side of the Severn, lave net fishing was practised for centuries at Oldbury on Severn. In the 1990s the fishery declined because the fishing stations silted up, claimed by the fishermen to be a result of slower tides caused by the construction of the

Second Severn Crossing The Prince of Wales Bridge (), previously the Second Severn Crossing () until July 2018, is the M4 motorway bridge over the River Severn between England and Wales, opened in 1996 to supplement the traffic capacity of the Severn Bridge built i ...

. In the past,

sturgeon Sturgeon (from Old English ultimately from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''str̥(Hx)yón''-) is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the ...

have also been caught in lave nets.''Did Sturgeon Ever Breed in British Waters?'', by Alan Knight
/ref>

References

;Notes

External links

National Museum Wales
{{fishing tackle, expanded=techniques Fishing techniques and methods River Severn Fishing nets

See also

References

External links