Toilers of the Deep (Tim Mowat)

Coming from landlocked Gloucestershire it was surprising our speaker, Tim Mowat, had developed an interest in the fishing industry and operated as a fundraiser for the Fisherman’s Mission. He gave us an informative and entertaining talk on the current state of the industry and how it operates in the United Kingdom. His talk began with the work of the Fisherman’s Mission which was founded in 1881 by Ebenezer Mather, after he was shocked by the terrible conditions in which fishermen worked and lived under.

They help fishermen who have been in an accident, are taken ill, face poverty, are bereaved or simply need someone to talk to. More than 12,000 people currently work in fishing, the UK’s toughest and most dangerous peacetime occupation. At sea, they face death and injury with an average of 15 fishermen killed or seriously injured every year. 

On land, many struggle with insecurity and debt. And for the 50,000 retired fishermen and their families the hardship continues as they face debt, scant savings, loneliness and isolation. The Mission assists by providing emergency financial and welfare support to working and retired fishermen and their families.

They also initially established large accommodation centres to provide a safe place for fishermen to rest or stay when their boats came in, often many miles from home. However, many fishermen now fish from their home ports or have sleeping facilities on board so they now provide 24-hour ‘mini-centres’ with good facilities and welfare offices in many fishing ports covering the coastline of the UK.

Major changes occurred in the industry on joining the EU in 1972 when a system of community management of fishery resources and conservation measures was set up. Each year the EU establishes total allowable catches for the main stocks in EU waters and divides them into quotas allocated to each member state.

Under their rules, crews often discarded, into the sea, fish that took them over their quota for that species., but under a new policy, fishers must bring the full haul back to shore. This change is to stop fish being wasted but could mean fishermen hitting their annual quotas much earlier in the year and having to stop fishing.

This would be particularly problematic in "mixed fisheries" where it would be hard for boats to avoid catching a fish species for which they have a very low quota.  Once they reached their quota for a particular species, fishers would be forced to choose between halting operations for the rest of the year or breaking the law by continuing to fish for other species and discarding anything over quota.

As the majority of fish caught in the UK is exported and the majority we consume is imported Tim identified the future of fisheries trade was at a significant risk with the onset of Brexit.

The make up of the industry has also changed in that now half of the UK fleet is small-scale, targeting shellfish for export, and using low-impact fishing methods. The other half is controlled by big business where powerful trawlers and large fishing interests control the quotas and have squeezed out the smaller, more environmentally friendly boats on which local communities depend. Tim concluded his talk considering the impact of Brexit, affecting both these sides in different ways, but of course only determined when the final exit route is clear.

Our interest in the talk was reflected by a session of pertinent and informed questions, which were well responded to by Tim.

Roger Boucher