Making Waves

Shortlisted for the Fisherman Of The Year award, Skye’s Brooke Lamond is a rising star in a male-dominated trade

- by LINDSAY BRUCE

IT was a dreich day in the waters surrounding Skye when it became clear to skipper James Robertson that his young apprentice, Brooke Lamond, had what it takes to become a master fisherwoman.

The captain of the Kayvari, a prawn, lobster and crab fishing vessel from Elgol, watched as his long-haired 20-year-old trainee wrestled with a heavy creel.

“It was such a poor day out there,” he explains. “Brooke was carrying a creel from one part of the boat to another. They're heavy. Creels can be 20-30 kilos. She was trying to manoeuvre around with one when she tripped, fell and landed in a box of crabs!

“I saw her bottom lip going for a second, but then she just carried on. She's definitely got the right – stubborn – personality for the job.

“Creel fishing is incredibly physically demanding,” James adds. “She's got what it takes. I'm sure of that. Although she didn’t believe that about herself to begin with.”

As the granddaughter of boat builder George Lamond and daughter of renowned Skye trawler fisherman Kenny, being out on the water is certainly in Brooke's blood.

“I've had her out on the boat since she was wee,” Kenny says, “just like I did with my old man. She was regularly out with us for the whole day and showed quite a lot of interest in fishing when she was younger.

“You'd always hear people saying to her ‘Come back and see me when you're 18 if you want a job’. But she was like most teenagers — her interests changed as she went up through secondary school.”

Brooke, who attended the now mothballed Elgol Primary then Portree High, turned her attention away from seafood and boats to a career in beauty instead.