Don’t become a fisherman
Last week I bought four skate wings from a fisherman sitting inside a hut on the beach in front of his boat. The cost? £1.70. I took them back to London where I could proudly boast of my capacity to snap up a bargain. How clever I was. But there are no bargains to be had for the fishermen working the 'punters', the small oldfashioned wooden fleet, along this inshore coastline.
There has been a fleet in Hastings for a thousand years and their right to moor and launch off the beach is preserved in law. But this ancient law, like the shingle foreshore, is constantly being eroded. He had been out all night, 12 hours in the dark and had already taken his haul to the Fisherman's Market on the Stade, a nonprofit company set up by the Fishermen's Protection Society. The small bits and pieces that don't quite make it, like my skate wings, are sold off to supplement his income – around £12,000 this year.
The 'punters' are the largest beachbased fleet in the UK – although at only 27 boats their size is a sad indicator of a declining industry. Unlike the huge ocean sucking trawlers, these small fry are adaptable; spratting, trammelling, mackerel and herring drifting, shrimp trawling and longlining.
There is a natural rhythm to it, with the same sustainable methods employed for centuries. This little fleet is still the only one in the world so far to gain the Marine Stewardship Council's prestigious ecolabel (MSC), the Olympic gold of sustainability for its sole, as well as its fishing of mackerel and herring.
But despite their triumph on the green carpet, they face fi nancial ruin. The small boats (under 10m) account for 77 per cent of the UK's fishing fleet and 65 per cent of fulltime employment in the industry, yet they are only allowed four per cent of the fishing quota. At the height of the cod season in early winter, each boat's limit is now set at 1.4kg, less than half a fish. Not enough to cover the price of the fuel to go and catch it.
Paul Joy, who has set up the New Under Ten Fishermen's Association (NUTFA) to fight for the rights of the small boats, was recently monitored by a police helicopter while at sea. 'If we were drug smugglers we'd understand it,' he said. 'But we're just fi shermen trying to make a living.'
Next week: Light my fire...
There has been a fleet in Hastings for a thousand years and their right to moor and launch off the beach is preserved in law. But this ancient law, like the shingle foreshore, is constantly being eroded. He had been out all night, 12 hours in the dark and had already taken his haul to the Fisherman's Market on the Stade, a nonprofit company set up by the Fishermen's Protection Society. The small bits and pieces that don't quite make it, like my skate wings, are sold off to supplement his income – around £12,000 this year.
The 'punters' are the largest beachbased fleet in the UK – although at only 27 boats their size is a sad indicator of a declining industry. Unlike the huge ocean sucking trawlers, these small fry are adaptable; spratting, trammelling, mackerel and herring drifting, shrimp trawling and longlining.
There is a natural rhythm to it, with the same sustainable methods employed for centuries. This little fleet is still the only one in the world so far to gain the Marine Stewardship Council's prestigious ecolabel (MSC), the Olympic gold of sustainability for its sole, as well as its fishing of mackerel and herring.
But despite their triumph on the green carpet, they face fi nancial ruin. The small boats (under 10m) account for 77 per cent of the UK's fishing fleet and 65 per cent of fulltime employment in the industry, yet they are only allowed four per cent of the fishing quota. At the height of the cod season in early winter, each boat's limit is now set at 1.4kg, less than half a fish. Not enough to cover the price of the fuel to go and catch it.
Paul Joy, who has set up the New Under Ten Fishermen's Association (NUTFA) to fight for the rights of the small boats, was recently monitored by a police helicopter while at sea. 'If we were drug smugglers we'd understand it,' he said. 'But we're just fi shermen trying to make a living.'
Next week: Light my fire...