Castlebay. Herring curing station
The pier seen here was used to land herring from the fishing boats, and the fish were then tipped into the trough seen here called a 'farlan'. The women then processed them working in teams of two gutters and one packer, one team per boat. The fish were gutted with a single movement of a sharp knife by slitting the throat and removing the gills and gut, and most women were able to gut around 40 herring a minute. The guts were collected and used to fertilise the fields. The fish were then sorted by size and condition. They were then mixed with salt and packed into barrels by the packer with more layers of salt added in between the layers of fish. The barrels held about 1000 herring each, and could be filled in 10 minutes. The teams worked outside in all weathers and wore oilskin overalls to protect their clothes and keep them clean and dry. The gutters wrapped their fingers in strips of cloth to help them hold the slippery fish and protect them from the sharp knives and the brine.
