Conder (fishing)

In English fishing customs, a conder, also called a huer or bulker, was a person who stood on high places near the sea coast in times of herring-fishing to signal to the fishers which way the shoal of herrings or pilchards passed—their course being more discernible to those who stand on high cliffs, due to the blue colour they cause in the water, than to those aboard vessels. In Cornwall, huers helped locate shoals of fish. The huer would shout 'Hevva!, Hevva!' to alert the boats to the location of the pilchard shoals.

Huer's Hut on the headland of Towan Head

The term was also used to refer to the raised location where a conder stood.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "^{article name needed}". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (first ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.
• "Conder". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2nd ed. 1989.