Castlebay. Herring curing station
The pier on the left was used to land herring from boats, with the fish transferred from the boat in baskets using the winch seen at the end of the pier. The fish were then tipped into a trough called a 'farlan' seen in the centre of the photograph. The women then processed the herring 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 and mixed with salt and packed into barrels by the packer, with layers of salt added in between the layers of fish. Pans of white salt can be seen sitting on top of the barrels on the right of the photograph. 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.
