We were thrilled to have an article written about our Fresh Fish Friday’s with Pete the Fisherman in this weekend’s Sunday Telegraph.
It sets out what Sam and I have been working on achieving for a while at the farm shop which is to provide fantastic fish direct from the boat every Friday. We are proud to work with Pete Williams who fishes out of Hayling Island most hours of the day and night. Pete needs as much support as possible, especially after the summer we have had with high winds, low temperatures and rain affecting the fishing considerably.
Pete offers truly sustainable fishing – a small dayboat that targets individual species with specialized gear resulting in virtually no discards. This is the fishing we need to support, not factory trawlers that spend a week at sea, hoovering every species of fish and chucking overboard anything that they can’t sell or don’t have the quota for.
The summer is when the South Coast fishermen rely on a good catch to survive the winter. This year that has been a huge problem for our local fishermen as they haven’t been able to get out to sea, and when they have the fishing has been poor. We want to build on the great start we have had with Pete so that he can generate a good income on Friday’s when he is meeting customers at the Farm Shop. Pete would prefer to be fishing when the weather is good, but believes that there is a long term future in selling directly to the customer. He gets excellent feedback, a loyal following, and a better price than selling the fish to the wholesalers. The customers get incredibly fresh fish as well as finding out how, when and where their fish was caught, and advice on how to prepare and cook it.
The bass are line-caught and tagged with the South East Food Group tagging scheme. Mackerel and some of the flat fish are also line-caught, while mullet, brill and plaice are netted using large mesh nets.
This summer we have had a lovely selection from Pete’s boat – seabass, mackerel, mullet, gurnard, brill, plaice, flounder, huss. We want to build enthusiasm for our local fish and fishermen so that we can get more boats involved. We hope to see you at the farm shop, or call for availability.