Western Morning News (Saturday)
ROBIN TURNER
CORNISH seafood expert Robin Turner has been writing a beginner’s guide to the region’s fishing industry…
“Seasons matter a lot in the way fish and shellfish are captured, stored, transported, sold and consumed.
Capture is achieved by numerous methods: trawling, seine-netting, hook and line, static netting, potting, dredging… to name but a few.
Trawling refers to towing a net either across the seabed or off the seabed (known as midwater). Nets have legally enforced sizes so capture of immature fish is minimised - escape panels are built into trawls to allow smaller fish to escape.
There are several types of trawling - beam, stern and side trawling (now mostly out of date), twin and triple rigging, and pair trawling. In the South West beam and stern trawling are favoured for round white fish and flatfish.
Midwater trawling used to have a large role in the region’s pelagic fishery but, through overfishing, this is now only done by large factory ships (mostly foreign owned with quota bought from UK fishermen). In my opinion, this should be legally curtailed before overfishing history repeats itself.
The majority of our country’s fresh fish comes from inshore trawling - or not beyond 100 nautical miles from shore. This is limited because of weather and tides.
The South West species mix for each trawler averages 20 to 23 per trip. The huge diversity can be
problematic if one or two main species have a very low quota - restrictions can mean a fishing trip will have to be curtailed or not take place at all.
It’s an emotive and complicated subject, but the fact is that the majority of UK fishing quota is owned by less than 40 individuals or businesses (British and foreign). Some with boats, some not. Small boats (under 10 metres) have only about 2 % of the UK quota.
The allocation has nothing to do with the EU. It is managed within the UK.
So when you shop for fresh fish, the picture is not just about an industry which operates in a hostile environment - it is also about what can legally be captured sustainably and economically.
South West trawlers are known for lemon sole, Dover sole, brill, monkfish, megrim sole, haddock, cod, whiting, red mullet, rays of various species, ling, pollock, conger eel, turbot, squid, cuttlefish, octopus, hake, pouting, dabs, plaice, coley, gurnard, John Dory.
Weather, tide and season affect availability. The seasons change both spawning and feed movements, which encourage fish to move to various areas of sea.
Next time I’ll write about static netting. Certainly, the New Year will throw all sorts of problems at the fishing industry if a satisfactory Brexit deal is not reached.”
Robin is a well known figure in the Newlyn fishing scene having worked for years as a wholesaler and auctioneer - he now supports his partner Rebecca in running Indulgence Catering.