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A coastal community is a world of its own. Lamorna Ash, a British non-fiction writer, opens a window to that world in her new book, Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Cornish Fishing Town. As a guest aboard the Filadelfia, a fishing trawler, she explores the everyday lives of the fishermen and the community they support.
Life on a fishing boat is dangerous and uncomfortable. The fishermen are often at sea for weeks at a time, with no way to communicate with their families. Many of the men develop alcohol or mental health problems. The work can be frustrating, too. Fishermen often have to throw fish back into the sea to stay within EU quotas.
The lives of the fishermen are only part of the story of a coastal community, however. “For every man at sea, there are three people [connected to the industry] on land,” Ash tells The Guardian. But these communities are disappearing. There are 29 per cent fewer fishing boats in the UK than there were in 1996. Many of the community’s young people are looking for other forms of employment. For many others in the community, however, life without the pull and push of the sea is unimaginable. One man told Ash that a fisherman at home always counts the days until he is back at sea; a fisherman at sea always counts the days until he is back at home.