Foodie thoughts

W H E N T H E B O AT S TO P S C O M I N G IN

Over the last three months we’ve been learning the sad facts about how our artisan food makers and producers have been struggling to keep their businesses going. Many cheesemakers, bakers, growers and beekeepers – the folk who care deeply about their product, some of them second and third generation – face the prospect of their family businesses being lost forever.

It got me wondering about the Yorkshire fishing industry. Recently, I saw a photo of a box of crabs and lobsters coming off a boat on the coast with the message: “Live crabs for sale £2 each, lobsters £10 each”. A bargain, I’m sure you’ll agree, but at those prices is the business sustainable? Up to 80 per cent of fish caught in the UK is exported, and the haul mostly finds its way to Asia, with a small amount going to restaurants and gastro pubs up and down the country. But they’re closed of course, so the only market now is to the general public. A fisherman told me:

“It has hit the industry very hard like it has done every other business. There is only one boat going to sea once or twice a week to see the pots are all right, and there are half as many pots as usual. So it’s just about ticking over.”

But there is cause for optimism. Environment Secretary George Eustice announced last month that more than 1,000 businesses will receive direct cash grants through a £9m fisheries support scheme. A further £1m will be made available to support projects to assist fishermen to sell their catch in their local communities.

In the meantime, fishermen up and down the coast will stay ashore. “At the moment we’re shut down,” the one I spoke to told me. “There are always maintenance jobs to do and we’ve been making new gear – these are usually the jobs we do in bad weather.

“At the moment we’ve no alternative because there’s no-one we can send our fish to.”