A høvi is a fish-trap made of basket-work, typically used in trout-streams in Orkney and Shetland. It is also found in the compound høvi-brigg, indicating a bridge to which such a trap is fastened. The Statistical Account of Scotland for Shetland (1834-45) provides the following description:
The houvie is ... wide at the one end, and narrow at the other. A dike is built across the burn, leaving an open space in the middle sufficient to admit the wider end of the houvie. After the houvie is firmly placed in this open space, a person, with a stick in his hand, wades down the burn, and drives the trouts before him. Having entered the houvie and reached its narrow end, they cannot turn to get out again.