Some fishing activity was engaged in here and it was a market town since 1257 compared to the tiny fishing village of Redcar. Both Redcar and Coatham are a contiguous urban area now. The fishing industry at Redcar started in the early 14th century. Fishing has been mostly crab and lobster, though during the 20th century, the numbers of boats has been in decline. Line fishing for cod was also undertaken sporadically, but the fishery was largely an inshore concern and the local fishermen say that the cod gave gone further north for colder waters. Saltburn was always a low-key fishing endeavour as it was largely a new town created in the 19th century in an effort led by Henry Pease. The settlement came under the Parish of Marske and was developed as a new resort in the 1860s, therefore it does not have the same centuries-old fishing histories such as Redcar, Whitby or Robin Hood's Bay. It still has a small-scale fishing operation. Skiningrove had been an important fishing centre since Medieval times. The arrival of the ironstone industry in the village, and along the Cleveland coast, led to many fishermen abandoning their boats for work in the mines. The fishermen who worked out of Staithes used line fishing and would not fish on Sundays for religious reasons. In the 1860s when large trawler fleets from Scarborough, Hull and France threatened fish stocks, many fishermen took jobs in the steel and mining industries. By the end of the 19th century, almost of the population of the village relied on the fishing industry. At least forty-two cobles and fourteen smacks were listed as fishing from Staithes in the 1890s. By the 1950s, only three boats were working out of Staithes. Government incentives persuaded people to go out fishing again, and by 1972, Staithes was listed as being the tenth highest port for the tonnage of lobster it was landing. The port here was not built until 1857 and was initially used to export ironstone from the hills nearby to smelters on the River Tyne. It still supports a small number of fishing cobles who fish for lobster and crab mostly. Part of the dynamiting of the coast to the north was undertaken to allow ships to sail right up to the cliff edge to load ironstone. This has created tanks with seawater in that were used by fishermen to store live lobsters. The fishing is seasonal and typically has less than six boats working from the harbour.