Herring Queen documentary shines spotlight on sea of change facing Borders fishing community
Last updated 27th Jun 2025
A new short film is highlighting the impact climate change is having on a small fishing community in the Scottish Borders.
The Herring Queen - which takes its name from Eyemouth's annual summer festival - was given its world permiere at the Raindance Film Festival in London last night (Thursday).
It focuses on the annual crowning of a local lass each summer amid the decline in the fishing industry.
Speaking about the inspiration for the film, Director Eilidh Munro, who hails from Edinburgh, told Greatest Hits Radio: "We had a similar festival on a much smaller scale in the town that I'm from. And that festival ended a long, long time ago.
"And, similarly, I'm from an industry town where the industry no longer exists, and I could see parallels with what is happening in Eyemouth, who are unfortunately also on the frontline of the climate crisis and the collapse of another industry; so, it just really fascinated me.
"And I also felt a climate story with people at its heart, or rather a human story with climate at its heart, whatever way you want to look at it, just really piqued my interest.
"I had been working with Isabella (producer Isabella Bassett) on another project, and we just felt it was a great story that we wanted to explore more."
WATCH: Click on the link below to view The Herring Queen...
The 12-minute long feature was developed with support from the Netflix Documentary Fund, an initiative to support and nurture emerging documentary filmmakers in the UK and Ireland.
Isabella said: "I think we hope that lots of people will watch it, that lots of people will enjoy it, and lots of people will get to see part of the world that they didn't know existed, and also didn't know was at the forefront of the climate crisis.
"Because, something we've spoken a lot about when making this film, I think often if feels like it's happening somewhere else, or it feels like it's happening further away than you think.
"Whereas, actually for a lot of people in Scotland or in coastal communities, it's a really urgent issue that's happening right on our doorstep.
"But it's also a really unique place in that they have such a prestigious and celebrated community tradition of this wonderful festival."
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