A Day in Newlyn

Last week we visited Newlyn, the harbour in southwest Cornwall where we buy most of our fish. We met with lots of different people from fishermen to suppliers to restaurants (can’t recommend Argoe enough), as well as the harbour and market teams. We had a great day and learned a lot. Here are some thoughts.

As well as educating yourself by reading about the industry, nothing beats spending time with people on the ground – not always solid ground. Becki Jarvis, our fisheries consultant, made this point well on a LinkedIn post that I won’t try and replicate: “I am always struck by how much knowledge exists across the industry and how much of it sits outside reports and datasets. When we take the time to listen, ask questions and genuinely understand each other’s challenges and experience, we cut through assumptions, misconceptions and misinformation. More importantly, we build the relationships and trust needed to support a thriving fishing industry into the future.”

Antony Hosking of Cornwall Fish Direct, local supplier with two hake netters (Silver Dawn and Stelissa), spoke to us about seasonality. Seasonality is something we associate with farming and produce but less so with fishing. However, hake is seasonal and landings are lower through summer. Many hake netters respond by changing gear until then, for example to tangle nets for monkfish and turbot.

We met Ocean Pride, a 12m netter, as they were landing into the market after five days of fishing. Skipper Ben kindly let us onboard, had a chat and crew member Rogelio took us round the boat. Really interesting to see the vessel and kit, bringing to life what it means to be gill-netting and the positives and challenges with this fishing method. Big thanks to the Ocean Pride crew!

Paul Trebilcock of W. Stevensons told us some more about the workings of the harbour and market, and especially about how he’s proud to work at such a well-managed and diverse harbour. Looking out from the harbour office we saw all shapes and sizes from day boats to crabbers to netters to beamers.

Thanks to everyone that spared some time to speak with us. Hope you liked the fish finger sandwiches!