Hebridean History

The Lobster Pond by Finlay Macleod

This lobster pond was built in the 1860s and is two miles north of the village of Circebost in Great Bernera, on the east side of Loch Birsay (O.S.173373). Its Gaelic name is Tob Blar Meadha.

The lobster pond was built by Murdo Morrison of 4 Circebost and the following account was written by his son around 1930.

"In the island of Bernera, in Loch Roag, Lewis, there is a a well sheltered arm of the sea, branching off from one of the wider indentations of the coast. A native of the island, Murdo Morrison (my father), realising the excellent qualities of this inlet as a storage pond for lobsters, got a substantial, unmortared, stone dyke erected near its outer end, and so enclosed it that it served for lobster storage each winter for the last sixty years.

He had travelled round the world but he had not seen such a pond before, nor had he heard of the existence of any, if one did exist at the time. The dyke - about 75 yards from end to end - is built at the narrowest part of the inlet; while the inner, or landward part, is about 400 yards distant from the dyke. The pond has a depth of four fathoms of water at high tide, and two when the tide is out -- the seawater finding its way with the tide in and out through the dyke. It has never been, even remotely, taxed for space in storing all the lobsters brought to it from all along the west coast of Lewis, from Brenish to the Butt. I am not aware that the dyke has ever been repaired, or needed repairs since it was built.

There were those who warned my father that the venture would be a failure, and that the building of the dyke was just throwing money into the sea; but the subsequent years have amply proved the wisdom of his judgement.

The wider bay, off which the pond branches, affords excellent anchorage and landing facilities.

Many a day, as a lad, I sat on the dyke with rod and line as the sea flowed in through, and watched cod, saithe, and lythe pass by in front; often, to my chagrin, taking no notice of my baited hook; which shows that fish - even the cod - do not lack feeding in the pond. Flounders are fairly plentiful; while, sometimes, gurnet and whiting are hooked.

All varieties of fish - lobsters and crabs included - contained in the pond, approach the dyke when the sea is entering, but there is no corresponding collection of fishes outside when the sea goes out. In fact, I have seldom seen a fish of any description near the outside of the dyke.

The lobster is a pugnacious creature, but the Loch Roag lobster-fisher, an expert at his trade from the time he sold his lobsters at the rate of three pence each, is in the habit of cutting a certain fleshy part of the powerful claws before letting the lobster loose toghether in the box which holds them till they are delivered at the storage pond, or forwarded to market. The damaging power of the claws is thus lessened, so that few casualties result from their being confined together after the "cutting", as it called. Though the cut heals rapidly, a scar always remains, so that the cut lobster can always be distinguished form one that has not been operated upon. This distinction enabled my father once, when questioned by a Fishery Board Commission as to his knowledge of the lobster and its habits, to give an idea of the time it took one to grow to a certain length. He knew the date on which cut lobsters wer first put into the pond, and also the date on which he first observed uncut lobsters there; and concluded tha the uncut lobsters were those that had developed form the spawn of those first placed in storage. The time thus arrived at for the lobster to grow eight or nine inches long, or market size, seems surprisingly long. Uncut lobsters are being fished in the pond each season since they were first noticed, so that the lobster developes here as in the open sea; for nothing much bigger than spawn is able to pass through the thick dyke from without.

The rainwater falling into it - and the amount of any other kind entering is quite negligible - being of less density that the sea-water, floats to the surface and soon passes with the tide through the dyke and into the ocean. Representatives of English Fishing Traders have visited the pond at various times, and a few years ago my brother Donald, who now carries on the storage business, visited it with a resprestative of Messrs. Charles Saunders, Ltd., Fish Merchants, Southampton. This gentleman remarked that he had seen many good lobster-ponds in Britain and on the Continent, but none to approach the one he was then looking at. "In fact," he said, "I believe this is the best lobster-pond in the world."

The late Lord Leverhulme, when interested in the fishing industry round about Lewis meant to develop the lobster-fishing, and after his agents had inspected the pond, he hoped to secure it for a storage centre for Lewis lobsters.

Out of their element, and exposed to air and light, lobsters are short-lived: but during the colder weather when carefully packed in boxes, they are fairly tenacious of life, and reach Billingsgate from Lewis usually in good marketable condition.

The Bernera fisher, as a rule, gets his lobsters boxed for the London market early on Monday morning. Transport conditions preclude their arrival before the following Wednesday, but the great majority of them are alive on arrival. The Billingsgate salesman is always careful to mention the number dead in a box when sending an account of sale to the sender.

I have myself, on one accasion, taken a lobster in a box across the Minch and by train to Glasgow. It had been fully 30 hours out of water, but, when liberated from the box, was able, on being tapped with a stick, to jump some inches off the floor. How long could it go on living or performing its antics was not tested as it was mercilessly - or mercifully - put into a pot. The fish salesmen at one period returned the empty lobster-boxes to the senders. Possibly they still do this; but it is well known in Bernera tha such a box, forwarded for the Island to Billingsgate on a Monday morning, was found on its return to the sender, the following Saturday, to contain, overlooked among the packing, a live lobster."

Before Murdo Morrison could afford to build the pond he went to Australia in the late 1850s and was able to return in two years with sufficient funds to go ahead with his project. (Before he left for Australia he placed a stone at both ends of where he planned to build the wall of the pond). He employed a stonemason (Tarmod Tharmoid from Tobson) to build the wall; he was paid 1shilling and six pence per day. Other men were employed to bring stones to the site: they were paid 1 shilling per day. Women brought smaller stones for packing between the larger stones in the wall: they used their creels for this. Murdo Morrison left the lobster pond to his son Donald who, in turn, left it to his son Murdo. Murdo Morrison worked the pond until the 1960s. It now lies empty. A few years ago the wall of the pond was slightly damaged and this was repaired in 1995 by local stonemason Jim Crawford under the direction of the Bernera History Society.

There are other, smaller, lobster ponds in the Loch Roag area; one of these is a small one in the south west corner of Loch Risay. The walls of two ponds are still intact on the island of Pabbay off Bhaltos in Uig.

There are two such ponds in east Harris; one at Grosbay and one on the island of Stockinish which is still in use.

For some time in the 1950s the lobster ponds in Bernera and Stockinish were used in tandem in an interesting experiment. The Crofers Supply Agency, acting for the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society, bought the lobsters from the fishermen and stored them in the ponds. These lobsters were then sold in England and on the Continent when the market was favourable. At least 14 boats worked out of Bernera at the time. The cargoes of lobster were flown from Lewis on Dakota aircraft; each plane-load was of 4,OOO lobsters and in one such season 28,000 lobsters were sent from these two pools.

During the second season of the experiment three converted lifeboats bought with the help of Governement loans and grants increased the scope of the fishing fleet in Bernera, and several profitable long-distance trips were made to the Flannan Islands. The most successful catch was that of three young lads from Circebost, near the pond. They caught 700 lobsters in less than a week. The agent at the pool gave a good price for every lobster caught. Refrigeration changed all this.