I was delighted to come across this podcast from Finn Dwyer – AKA Irish History Podcast. Its a question I am often asked.  He covers it comprehensively here – although he doesn’t touch on the scotch weir phenomenon.

During the Great Hunger of the 1840s, one million Irish perished from starvation and hunger-related diseases. However, Ireland is surrounded by some of the best fishing grounds in Europe. This begs the question: why didn’t the Irish turn to the sea to survive? Some have argued that our ancestors didn’t know how to fish or that they didn’t like fish. The answer is, unsurprisingly, a little more complicated.