Fancy a tasty pizza topping to tickle the taste buds?
Never slow to sniff out an opportunity, a few of the Newlyn ring netters slipped their moorings last week and headed east - not a decision taken lightly in this neck of the woods as the old adage has it that, 'West is best, East is least'!
However, where the elusive little anchovy is concerned its a case of, 'go East for a feast'! At around £2,000 per ton even a small boat can earn some serious moolah of an evening. When it comes to local Brixham boy Dave Hurford with his 17.8m pelagic trawling machine Constant Friend however, things look very different - here he is with a fishroom almost full of the little silver fish - that's a serious number of pizza toppings in the offing! Local Kingswear Chef Mitch Tonks can't get enough of them! Of course, these little fish are extremely shy and show a real reluctance to put in an appearance on a regular basis - though a few years ago the skipper of one of the boats was spotted in Newlyn passing slowly by in a new BMW - shouting out, the admirer queried the driver's apparent sudden solvency and was given a one word response - "anchovies"!
At this time of year the waters off Brixham generally come alive with a showing of other riches - Cuttlefish - or black gold as they are known in the port. Cuttlefish love eating anchovy eggs so the two species are linked very closely within the food chain and exemplify the method by which stocks are assessed - a case of fecundity and viability - the success with which they breed matched against their ability to survive - it's a numbers game.
For years, Breton fishermen have used the same approach within their fishing operations - all the prawn trawlers from the ports of Douarnenez, Saint Guenole, Guilvenec, Loctudy and Concarneau share their fishing information. As the prawns come on or take off the boats share the news, this can result in an entire fleet shifting from the Smalls to the Labadie Bank overnight - by doing so all the boats get to share the best fishing and in turn, over the course of time, they are on average much better off than if they operated independently - it's a numbers game - statistically proven.
However, where the elusive little anchovy is concerned its a case of, 'go East for a feast'! At around £2,000 per ton even a small boat can earn some serious moolah of an evening. When it comes to local Brixham boy Dave Hurford with his 17.8m pelagic trawling machine Constant Friend however, things look very different - here he is with a fishroom almost full of the little silver fish - that's a serious number of pizza toppings in the offing! Local Kingswear Chef Mitch Tonks can't get enough of them! Of course, these little fish are extremely shy and show a real reluctance to put in an appearance on a regular basis - though a few years ago the skipper of one of the boats was spotted in Newlyn passing slowly by in a new BMW - shouting out, the admirer queried the driver's apparent sudden solvency and was given a one word response - "anchovies"!
At this time of year the waters off Brixham generally come alive with a showing of other riches - Cuttlefish - or black gold as they are known in the port. Cuttlefish love eating anchovy eggs so the two species are linked very closely within the food chain and exemplify the method by which stocks are assessed - a case of fecundity and viability - the success with which they breed matched against their ability to survive - it's a numbers game.
For years, Breton fishermen have used the same approach within their fishing operations - all the prawn trawlers from the ports of Douarnenez, Saint Guenole, Guilvenec, Loctudy and Concarneau share their fishing information. As the prawns come on or take off the boats share the news, this can result in an entire fleet shifting from the Smalls to the Labadie Bank overnight - by doing so all the boats get to share the best fishing and in turn, over the course of time, they are on average much better off than if they operated independently - it's a numbers game - statistically proven.
posted by Laurence Hartwell at
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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