December 20 – Catching the Tide

Catching the Tide was a long-term project carried out by photographer Colin McPherson to document salmon net fishing in Scotland. McPherson began his work in 1995 and the project continued until 2007 during and after which the photography was exhibited in Scotland and published worldwide.

This image is of salmon netters at the fishery at Boddin, Angus. The once-thriving Scottish salmon netting industry fell into decline in the 1970s and 1980s when the numbers of fish caught reduced due to environmental and economic reasons. By 2007, only a handful of men still caught wild salmon and sea trout using traditional methods, mainly for export to the Continent. [ID: CtT-6]