Why Didn't The Irish Go Fishing?
During the year of 1845 a potato blight hit Ireland. The results were devastating to the potato crop as well as to the culture and population of Ireland.
Let's look at some facts before we get into the great "Potato Famine". Ireland is located on the North Atlantic, which is probably one of the best commercial fishing locations in the world. So you would think that the Irish would have a long and distinguished fishing industry. You would be wrong if you thought that. Maybe Norway, Italy, Portugal, or Iceland figured out how to eat by fishing, but alas no such luck for the Irish people.
By the time 1846 rolled around the Irish people were starting to notice that this potato famine was pretty serious stuff. What they didn't realize at the time was that a fungus, imported from North America, had infested their crops. The leaves of the potato plants turned black and died, and the potatoes themselves shriveled up after being dug up. Not very good fortune for a people that used potatoes as their main staple food.
At this point you would have thought the Irish would have started to whistle the "Andy Griffith" theme song and dropped their lines into the ocean. But they didn't. What in the world was the problem? The largest obstacle for the Irish was mental. They had become so accustomed to eating potatoes with buttermilk, a perfectly nutritious meal, that they never bothered to pick up the habit of fishing. This to their shock and dismay would turn out to have dire consequences for the now starving population.
Not only did the Irish not have a history of fishing, but they also did not have a well developed ship building industry. The poor Irish were so dependent on potatoes that when the time came to make a change, they didn't know how.
To add to the misery was the Irish belief that "The Almighty" will take care of them. That belief might have worked out for them if they had just grabbed their poles, a few worms, and headed off for the shoreline. But they did not and because of that inaction they ended up dying in the millions.
The English were of no help. As a matter of fact many people believe the English made the situation worse by not helping their neighbors. What the English did do was to take whatever food the Irish did produce and ship it back home. They took the food behind a curtain of greed. The English were absentee landlords in Ireland and demanded payment in food. So while available crops were being shipped back to England, the Irish were starving to death.
It is also noteworthy to bring up the point that the English were expert fisherman and shipbuilders. They could have easily taught the Irish how to fish. But the reality of the situation was that the English looked down upon the Irish and didn't really care too much if they lived or died.
So why didn't the Irish go fishing? They had some really great potato recipes that they could not bring themselves to give up, they didn't know how to build a decent fishing boat, and they didn't know how to fish.
Let's look at some facts before we get into the great "Potato Famine". Ireland is located on the North Atlantic, which is probably one of the best commercial fishing locations in the world. So you would think that the Irish would have a long and distinguished fishing industry. You would be wrong if you thought that. Maybe Norway, Italy, Portugal, or Iceland figured out how to eat by fishing, but alas no such luck for the Irish people.
By the time 1846 rolled around the Irish people were starting to notice that this potato famine was pretty serious stuff. What they didn't realize at the time was that a fungus, imported from North America, had infested their crops. The leaves of the potato plants turned black and died, and the potatoes themselves shriveled up after being dug up. Not very good fortune for a people that used potatoes as their main staple food.
At this point you would have thought the Irish would have started to whistle the "Andy Griffith" theme song and dropped their lines into the ocean. But they didn't. What in the world was the problem? The largest obstacle for the Irish was mental. They had become so accustomed to eating potatoes with buttermilk, a perfectly nutritious meal, that they never bothered to pick up the habit of fishing. This to their shock and dismay would turn out to have dire consequences for the now starving population.
Not only did the Irish not have a history of fishing, but they also did not have a well developed ship building industry. The poor Irish were so dependent on potatoes that when the time came to make a change, they didn't know how.
To add to the misery was the Irish belief that "The Almighty" will take care of them. That belief might have worked out for them if they had just grabbed their poles, a few worms, and headed off for the shoreline. But they did not and because of that inaction they ended up dying in the millions.
The English were of no help. As a matter of fact many people believe the English made the situation worse by not helping their neighbors. What the English did do was to take whatever food the Irish did produce and ship it back home. They took the food behind a curtain of greed. The English were absentee landlords in Ireland and demanded payment in food. So while available crops were being shipped back to England, the Irish were starving to death.
It is also noteworthy to bring up the point that the English were expert fisherman and shipbuilders. They could have easily taught the Irish how to fish. But the reality of the situation was that the English looked down upon the Irish and didn't really care too much if they lived or died.
So why didn't the Irish go fishing? They had some really great potato recipes that they could not bring themselves to give up, they didn't know how to build a decent fishing boat, and they didn't know how to fish.
