For centuries, the Exe salmon boat was the traditional wooden boat designed and built on the River Exe estuary to catch salmon. Each town and village round the Exe had their own. With the demise of salmon fishing on the Exe, the tradition of building them has disappeared. Now a local group is offering members of the community the opportunity to join a project to build the first salmon boat on the Exe for over 50 years, rediscovering lost skills and bringing this traditional and sustainable craft back to the Exe. A leaflet about the project is available to download from the SYC website - feel free to forward it to others who might be interested.
Salmon boats were between 16ft and 22ft long, stable and strong, so that heavy nets could be hauled over the gunwales whilst standing, flat-bottomed, allowing them to sit safely on mud at low tide, and sometimes powered additionally by a lugsail. The boat can be rowed by a crew of five and will be an environmentally friendly way to appreciate the beauty of the Exe. Once used for fishing, the boat will now be used for rowing, learning, and wildlife watching - turning a working craft into a shared community asset.
Full details are in the leaflet, or contact