Cornwall - This Fishing Life - Series 2

Episode
Episode 6 - Newlyn
Broadcast Info
2021 (59 mins)
Description
With over 100 boats in the harbour, Newlyn is Cornwall’s biggest fishing port. For generations young men from here have followed in their fathers’footsteps and put to sea. But today there aren’t many young locals getting into fishing; many of the boats in the harbour source their crew from
overseas. The average age of a UK fishermen is now fifty-seven, but twenty-three-year-old Thomas Pascoe is bucking the trend. Newlyn born and bred, Thomas has seized an opportunity to step up from deckhand and skipper his Uncle David’s sardine ring netter, the Serene Dawn. Ring netting is highly competitive. Each evening eight ring netters depart from Newlyn to hunt sardines in Mounts Bay. It’s a difficult fishery to master. The skippers need to locate fish using sonar and then encircle shoals with a falling net as they’re moving. Plenty can go wrong. For Thomas, skippering the boat is a dream come true, but keeping the helm is going to be a challenge. David, the boat’s owner and usual skipper is recovering from a neck operation and will take the boat back if the catches aren’t good enough. Once the rookie skipper of the sardine fleet, James Roberts is now in his third season at the helm of the Resolute, one of four ring netters owned by fish processors, Ocean Fish. With the money he’s made catching sardines James has been able to buy his own small inshore fishing boat, the Bonnie Grace. Like many fishermen here, James is an ardent Brexiteer, and hopes that leaving will bring a brighter future for the industry; he’s counting on the Government to deliver on the promises made during the referendum to take back control over British waters and quotas. Critical for Cornish fishermen is having exclusive access top waters inside the 12 mile limit. French boats can legally fish up to 6 miles from the Cornish coast, and all too often do. The Government have promised the fishing industry this is a red line in negotiations. Successful negotiations could transform the future for Newlyn’s fleet on inshore fishing boats, who have to share the Cornish fishing grounds with modern, powerful European trawlers. Tom McClure, skipper of the Harvest Reaper, a 30ft inshore trawler, knows this only too well. Whenever there’s any bad weather he has to shelter in harbour whilst the European boats can carry on fishing just six miles from Cornish shores. But Tom has more than Brexit to worry about. He has a new deckhand, Tom Hamptom, aboard and he has his work cut out, teaching him the ropes. With Britain’s exit from the EU and the customs union now just weeks away, Newlyn’s fish market needs to be ready. Eighty percent of fish sold here is exported to Europe. Newlyn operates the last shout auction for fish in England. Buyers must come to the market and bid for the fish in person, meaning a tight group of local men hold a stranglehold over the fish - and the prices paid. The system is disliked by some fishermen who don’t trust that the sales are always fair. They’ve started to send their fish to competing markets in Devon, where online auctions offer full transparency and often better prices. To stop decline Newlyn market needs to modernise to be ready for whatever challenges or opportunities Brexit may bring.
Genre
Economics; Business Studies; Culture

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Cornwall - This Fishing Life - Series 2". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/238470 (Accessed 10 Jan 2025)