tourist info panel in Hoswick on local history of herring fishing in Shetland Islands, UK 5/15/23

This shows an interesting and helpful tourist information panel located in the rural village of Hoswick in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, UK, on 5/15/23 explaining the role of Hoswick and other nearby areas in the past concerning herring fishing in the Shetland Islands. While fishing is still Shetland's largest and most lucrative industry, at one time herring fishing made Shetland one of the busiest ports in Europe.
Although the Dutch had been fishing in Shetland's waters and catching a lot of herring throughout the 1500's, 1600's and 1700's, for whatever reason people on Shetland did not meaningfully participate or benefit until the 19th century. Until then, fishing on Shetland was mainly for subsistence, not commercial trade. In the late 19th century and early 20th, as the information panel explains, herring boomed big on Shetland, really big. In the 1880's is when the biggest boom began, and by 1905, the peak year, 1 million barrels were cured and exported from Shetland, with numerous communities, including Hoswick and nearby areas participating and benefitting greatly.
This info panel was put up by the Scottish Government Rural Infrastructure Fund and is located just outside the very nice Hoswick Visitor Centre. We were here during an excursion from the Viking Venus on Shetland while on a British Isles Explorer Cruise. One thing I liked about our stop in Shetland beyond the lovely scenery and interesting sites was the fact that Lerwick actually had a dock which meant no tendering in small boats to the shore, something that happened too often during this cruise for my liking. I will say Hoswick and other rural communities along with roads and everything looked really well maintained and in good nick.