Book Review: The Salt Roads: How Fish made a Culture by John Goodlad

I grew up with the fishing, with a dad who earned his living on a fishing boat and spent long periods at sea, coming home smelling of fish and engine oil. I spent winter nights unable to sleep, with the wind lashing at the window, worrying that he was safe at sea, and of conversations based on how many boxes each boat had landed and what the price was.

Saat – or salt, to give it its English name – is in the blood of every Shetlander, and John Goodlad’s latest book, The Salt Roads: How Fish made a Culture, tells the story of saltfish. It is an evocative, heartfelt and concise history of fishing in Shetland, charting it through the years from the Dutch fishermen who came here in their hundreds from the 16th century to the modern challenges that face the industry today. Throughout the narrative, told in a cleverly blended mix of memoir and narrative non-fiction, we learn about the 19th-century cod fishery executed by Shetlanders around the waters of Faroe and Greenland and the herring boom that saw Shetland prosper at unprecedented levels in the early 20th century.

John Goodlad is a Shetlander who works in the seafood industry. For many years he was the voice of the Shetland fishing industry when he led the Shetland Fishermen’s Association. He then became a fish farmer and now advises various national and international seafood organisations and companies. His previous book, The Cod Hunters, was shortlisted for the Maritime Foundation’s Mountbatten Award for Best Maritime Book in 2020.

I love John’s easy writing style, weaving in personal stories and giving us a glimpse of his life and how his experience, and those of every Shetlander, can slot into this complex puzzle of an industry that has continued to shape an island.

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He tackles serious topics, including the erosion of language, culture and autonomy, the future of rural communities, climate change, and the dangers that have historically – and continue to – threaten those who make a living from the sea. All these are discussed in a balanced, well-informed and carefully considered manner, looking to the facts rather than making sensationalist and unsubstantiated claims, something that is becoming more and more prevalent in narratives involving fisheries.

John’s perspective is unique in a modern socio-political context; he can look to the past for lessons while keeping a firm eye on the horizon and the future. He is neither bogged down in the past nor blinkered by the present. Much of what he discusses has a subtly woven political thread, hinting at his personal views and politics, yet they are never jarring or out of context. He has an innate ability to weave everything back to the fishing – an indication that this industry is fundamental to the very survival of our island communities.

It’s clear that this is an extensively researched piece of work, yet it doesn’t have the dryness that often accompanies academic writing. It’s a book that demands you keep turning the page – it makes for late nights reading followed by bleary-eyed coffee-fuelled mornings. The way he punctuates the research with anecdotes and personal experiences adds a natural richness to the narrative. He has, in essence, created a real page-turner with universal appeal in what might traditionally be viewed as a wholly academic and niche study.

It struck me that this is perhaps a harbinger for things to come, and maybe we will see more authors tackle important academic subjects in a more accessible manner, creating a book that’s not only informative but wholly interesting too. For someone who spends a lot of time in academic writing, I hope that more authors will follow John’s lead!

The Salt Roads tells the story of Shetland through the lens of the fishing industry that has historically governed so much of life in our islands.

Well done, John; this was a thoroughly brilliant read!