Controversial statue of ‘haafnetter’ fisherman in Scottish border town to be demolished and melted down – after years of ridicule and vandalism

Since its unveiling fifteen years ago, it has been the subject of all kinds of ridicule and vandalism.

Now it appears the much-maligned sculpture of a fisherman in the Galloway town of Annan will be melted down in a move that has angered its creator.

The £40,000 monument, built to honor the men who waded into the Solway Firth to catch fish with hand nets, was erected in 2009.

Commissioned by Tesco to mark the opening of the new supermarket, it features a hare netter – an ancient species of salmon and sea trout fisherman that was once common in the Solway Firth.

It is now at risk of being melted down after Annan Community Council voted for its removal and demolition.

But Paul Cowan, who made the bronze and stainless steel work, told the story The Sunday times: ‘The statue does not belong to the community council, it belongs to the people of the city.

‘It’s not theirs and they can’t decide what to do with it. They claim to be acting in the best interests of the city, but all they care about is trying to get their hands on MBE medals.

“They’re a bunch of old farts and stuck-up busybodies… and you can quote me on that.”

The statue as it looked when it stood outside the city’s Tesco

Paul Cowan has defended his work and said it belongs to local people and should not be demolished

It was originally placed on a roundabout in the city, but immediately became the center of ridicule after its unveiling in 2009.

The 61-year-old sculptor said: ‘All the jokes go back to the night before it was unveiled.

“We wrapped it and the sculpted salmon stuck out around the waist height of the figure.

‘People chuckled and suggested he seemed excited.

“I didn’t mind that and thought it was funny.”

Demands to remove the statue soon became loud. It was then beheaded in 2018.

Pranksters quickly took advantage of the headless statue. It had numerous heads, including a disturbing rubber parrot mask and a traffic cone.

The beheading led to a police investigation, but it was quickly dropped.

In 2020, Annan Community Council took ownership of the headless haafnetter, but this did not end the problems for the artwork.

It was removed from its original site to a new one overlooking the Solway Firth, with the council reportedly paying £350 to move it.

But vandals continued to target the artwork, removing the fisherman’s metal net and headless salmon earlier this year.

The council told the newspaper that the delisting was a “unanimous decision”, adding: “It is sad that it has come to this. The money will be used for the benefit of the community. Tesco didn’t want it and the council didn’t want it.’

Mr Cowan said: ‘The whole point of art is that it provokes strong opinions – whether people love it or hate it.’