Nobbled ... ‘rude’ statue is torn down by council
IT was meant to honour a historic local tradition – but has instead spent a decade being mocked for its ‘rude’ salmon.
And now the controversial statue has suffered the ultimate indignity of being taken down and put in ‘storage’... at a nearby scrapyard.
The bronze piece by Paul Cowan was created to celebrate ‘haaf-netters’, fishermen who since Viking times have waded into the Solway Firth to catch salmon in hand-held nets.
The artwork, in Annan, Dumfriesshire, was already drawing comments before its unveiling on a roundabout outside a Tesco supermarket in 2010.
Locals started making jokes after they spotted ‘something’ sticking out from the statue’s protective coverings about halfway up the figure.
This was later revealed to be a salmon swimming into the fisherman’s net.
Mr Cowan said ‘a small minority of idiots’ had poked fun at the piece, titled The Haaf Netter, since its unveiling. Its head was taken off in 2018 – and when the artist made a new one, that was taken away as well.
And now Annan Community Council has had the statue removed by a forklift truck and taken to a local scrapyard.
A furious Mr Cowan, 57, told The Times: ‘ They dug up the roundabout and took it down to the scrapyard.’
The artist, who said he was not informed of the community council’s plans, added: ‘ It belongs to the people of Annan, not the community council, nor to Tesco’s, who paid for it. It certainly doesn’t belong to the scrap dealer.’
Allan Weild, chairman of Annan Community Council, said the artwork had always been controversial, because the fish was ‘in a silly place’.
He told The Times: ‘ Paul thinks the statue is still his. He has been paid handsomely for it and Tesco gave it to the town.’
Mr Weild told The Mail the artwork would still be in situ if it had its head – but, as it is, the community council’s plan is to put the statue in storage until it can find funds to purchase a new head.
Ultimately, the council is said to be looking to install the statue at the Solway – in protest against the Scottish Government, which recently banned the practice of haaf-netting.