SPECIAL REPORT ON FISHING ON THE EAST COAST
THE first thing which greets visitors to Shediac, in New Brunswick, is a giant 90-tonne lobster. The resplendent 16ft-long pink and black statue, by Canadian artist Winston Bronnum, spawns thousands of selfies.
And it does a great job of promoting the town – which has a population of just 6,500 – as the “lobster capital of the world”, attracting 300,000 visitors a year.
A group of fishing industry representatives from Bridlington and academics visited the Canadian town in January as part of what was jokingly dubbed “Operation Pincer”.
Researchers from Hull University Business School have been looking at what lessons can be learned from places like Shediac and how to put them into play in East Yorkshire.
Few people realise that Bridlington is Europe’s lobster capital, or that the majority of the delicious shellfish landed in the port ends up gracing the tables of restaurants and hotels in Spain, France and Portugal instead.
Visitors eating out in Bridlington’s restaurants are likely to be tucking into Canadian lobster.
“When you go to France and sit in Bordeaux having lobster and a glass of wine, that Breton Bleu has probably come from Bridlington,” said Dr David Harness, a senior lecturer in marketing at Hull University Business School.
Dr Harness believes promoting the shellfish industry could help people make the decision to turn right at the roundabout on the coast road – rather than left towards Scarborough.
“Billing Bridlington as the lobster capital is a way of doing that,” he said.
“Since 1947 people in Shediac have been building a lobster festival, a lobster reputation, calling themselves the lobster capital of Canada and they have spent a lot of time and effort building the brand.
“Their lobster festival is renowned. People go from all over the US and Canada for those two weeks in late July, early August. They have a competition to see who can make the largest lobster roll.”
Having people believe that branding Bridlington as the lobster capital of Europe “makes sense”, that it can generate footfall, increase spending and create an all-year-round season for the town, is key.
Dr Harness added: “I think it has to be owned by Bridlington. The majority have to believe branding it as the lobster capital of Europe makes sense in terms of reputation and how it will generate footfall and interest in that location.
“It’s about building infrastructure with a purpose and its aim is to get people to come to the town to visit, make them walk around and spend money.”
A steering committee has been set up and it is in the early stages of working up a five-year plan.
Dr Harness first became involved in research after being asked by fishermen and members of the Fisheries Local Action Group to see if they could improve on the price they were getting for lobster.
The port mainly exports crab and lobster to Italy, Portugal, France and increasingly the Far East, especially China.
Those nations “value the quality of the product and it goes for a much higher price,” according to Dr Harness.
In the UK, however, people are conditioned to cheap supermarket prices for frozen Canadian lobster.
There is a market for fresh products – but only high-end restaurants and hotels.
The researchers looked at shellfishing sectors around the world and came to the conclusion that those working in the industry in Bridlington are “pretty damned good at what they do”.
“They were really maximising the type of income they could get. It’s a success story,” added Dr Harness, who believes there could be scope for some limited local processing, turning lobsters rejected because they are missing a pincer or are discoloured into food ingredients.
“Last summer, Pret A Manger ran a limited offer where they were selling lobster rolls and they sold them out.
“If you were given a choice of eating a shrimp sandwich or a lobster roll and they are £5 or £6 each, which would you choose?
“Nobody is doing this. I think it’s the way forwards.”
The next 18 months should provide a “fantastic opportunity” for seaside businesses “because people won’t want to go overseas – the staycation will become the norm”.
Hatching plans
Meanwhile, a long-awaited lobster hatchery should finally get up and running on Bridlington’s South Pier this summer.
There are 48 tanks, full of seawater, where pregnant egg-bearing females, which have been caught by fishermen under a special licence, can “cast” their eggs, and “hives” so the juveniles are grown until they are two to three months old.
When they are ready to go back in, they will be released by divers onto grounds where they have the best chances of surviving.
Fisheries scientist Mike Roach is in talks with the Norwegian owners of the Westermost Rough wind farm off Withernsea over releasing them onto the massive underwater structures that form the bases for the turbines.
An average female lobster can carry about 12,000 eggs, but less than one per cent make it to adulthood.
“They are at the bottom of the food chain until they get to a couple of years old. Everything eats them – including each other,” said Mr Roach.
“In theory if we can release them onto suitable ground, not just chucking them into the sea, if we do everything right, we can increase their survival by 20 per cent.”
The hatchery will be researchbased and will not be open to the public, but researchers will be able to show people outside what they are working on through an interactive screen.
Caught by surprise
Every day, thousands of people check Grimsby Fish Market’s website for prices for fish - which arrive fresh into the Humber on the back of container ships.
Five sizes of cod and eight of haddock are listed along with plaice, halibut and lemon sole.
But only a dozen show a price as the market is still not fully up and running after months of the lockdown.
Wet fish counters are still closed at supermarkets - apart from Morrisons which has a processing facility in Grimsby but fish and chip shops have begun doing a roaring trade.
“We would normally be doing 6,000 boxes a week and we’re doing 2,500,” said chief executive Martyn Boyers.
“A lot of that is pre-sold. We still need the demand to come back. It has to be consumer-led the customers have to come back, particularly the restaurants, the bars, the hotels.
“Restaurants and bars are supposed to be opening from July 4 it is reasonable to expect an uplift in demand.”
During the coronavirus crisis, the amount of fish arriving from Iceland into Immingham declined “to a worrying point”.
Mr Boyers says the Icelanders, Norwegians and Faroese see no point in using up limited quota and getting low prices.
Grimsby Fish Market has about 50 customers, including wholesaler Jaines Seafood and Kirwin Brothers in Grimsby, JW Johnson and Neptune Fish in Hull and Ship to Shore in Bridlington.
Only a handful of local boats catch whitefish off the Yorkshire coast these days.
Mr Boyers admits that without the Government’s support - half the landing staff were furloughed - there would have been redundancies.
He said: “There’s some demand because fish and chip shops are open and mobile retailers are out selling. It will come back - but it is how long it takes. For some, their businesses will suffer and some people won’t survive it.
“When we go on about fishermen there’s a lot of emotion, but most of what we catch goes out of the country.
“But the fishing industry has always been resilient. Hull and Grimsby had the Cod Wars of the 1970s and 1980s, and if we survived that we can survive anything.”