The Wear Fisheries

River fisheries formed part of the bishop’s rights, or were attached to the former monastic lands, and, as with other properties of the bishop, were leased to local people. The fisheries were moderately profitable but fell in and out of tenure at various times in the stagnant economic climate of the 15th century.   Moreover, since yares proved hazardous to navigation, the bishop sought increasingly to regulate their use.

  In the 17th century the well-established fishing industry was disrupted by developments around the mouth of the Wear. While sea fishing could operate from the sea shore and so was relatively unhindered by the coal trade, the salmon fisheries in the Wear faced severe impediments since, in addition to the natural and man-made changes at the Wear’s mouth, there was also the disturbance of  the increased volume of shipping passing up and downriver. As a result, the ‘free fishing’ right often referred to in property deeds had lost its value by the 1620s