Thank you Cllr Simon McGurk, for writing such an interesting article about what is clearly a very emotive topic to everyone in Rye (Is this the future of fishing?).
As a company, we tend not to comment on social media or newspaper posts, but there have been a number of responses to his article that we feel now demand a reply.
Make no mistake, fishing is big business. In 2022, UK vessels landed 640 thousand tonnes of sea fish with a value of £1.04 billion, so it is unsurprising that it is such a contentious issue. But climate change is disrupting already depleted fish stocks and increased energy costs are making it prohibitively expensive for many of our boats to get to sea. Fishermen feel let down by our politicians that failed to secure the much-touted Brexit deal of improved fishing opportunities. And while all these issues are valid, and certainly deserve extensive discussion, this is not what Cllr McGurk’s article is about. Cllr McGurk writes about sustainability and the environmental impacts that the arrival of Brixham Trawler Agents will have on our small town and fishing community.
Garry Walker, one of Rye’s local fishermen and so has more experience than most, says that it has been a terrible year for fishing – the worst for over 50 years according to many. As our fishermen will tell you, the seas are warming up, costs and regulatory requirements are increasing, and sometimes, you just have a bad year.
But the sea is not, as Mr Hadden claims in comments to Simon McGurk’s article, “in an empty state”. Mr Hadden also talks of fishing boats having to discard their fish “into a big fish drum to die”. However, when I asked Marcus Griffiths, senior marine officer at the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) (this is the government body that regulates fisheries), about this, he said that as far as he was aware, this may have happened some years ago in Brixham, but not here on the south coast. Our local fisherman agree that this has never been the case here in Rye. Fishing is highly regulated. Fishermen have quotas for certain species of fish and guidance on the sizes of fish they are allowed to land, and the MMO proactively police these landing obligations. It is in no-one’s interest to land undersized or over-quota fish. We can’t legally sell it, so apart from the obvious environmental and sustainable impacts this would have on our seas, it would be wasted time and effort for all involved – along with the risk of hefty fines from the MMO.
There have always been two fish shops in Rye, and we believe that this competition is a good thing for us, our fishermen and consumers. However, the Brixham model is different. For a business to legally buy fish straight from the boats, you must be a registered “first buyer”. This is a regulatory process that involves health and hygiene inspections, plus the requirement to report all landings into MMO and pay government fish levies. The levy collected is used to provide support, advice and services across the whole UK seafood supply chain. This costs us around £50,000 each year (in levies and administration).
As Simon McGurk’s article points out, once our local fish goes inside the Brixham fridge, it must travel to Brixham so it can be sold at auction. If Mr Hadden – or anyone else wants to buy our “local” fish from Brixham’s auction, it will require a journey of around 500 miles. This is environmentally crazy and certainly unsustainable.
And yes, as pointed out by Mr Walker, in the comments, we do buy some fish from further afield. You won’t find species such as salmon, tuna or hake swimming in our waters, so for as long as there is a demand for these, we will source them from further afield. We will never, however, sell farmed fish such as bass when there is a local wild option available.
Guy Harris suggests the arrival of Brixham has revitalised the fortunes of some local boats. However, we have spoken to the MMO and they said that as far as they were aware, no boats had put any fish in the Rye fridge so far.
If Mr Harris (who represented Hastings and Rye Liberal Democrats during the local and national elections), would like to “explore this story further” I would be very happy to speak with him to explain more about the industry as we have done with representatives from both the Labour and the Conservative parties. We worked closely with Cllr Christine Bayliss, leader of Rother Labour Group and deputy leader of Rother, to secure our funding a few years ago. As our MP, Sally-Ann Hart was hugely supportive of us as a business, and even before she was elected, we were invited to Westminster with Helena Dollimore to meet Keir Starmer and the (then) shadow cabinet to discuss the issues faced by our fishing community.
And so, we come full-circle. While it appears that Cllr McGurk’s article has been hijacked somewhat by others attempting to score political or personal points, I would point back to the article’s original intention. We have a massive company with millions of pounds of government funding trying to muscle in on our small fishing community, taking our fish on a 500-mile journey if it is to sell it back to the people of Rye.
We love Rye and feel it is a huge privilege to live and work in such an amazing town. When we started our business here, we decided at the outset we wanted to support the local community. Five years ago we had three staff in Rye. Now at the weekends when our seafood bar is open we have 16. We sponsor and support local events, we have created an educational program for local school children which has so far seen over 200 students learning how to prepare and cook fish (all run completely free of charge). We work with local organisations to employ young adults with special needs and we are now working with one of our fishermen in a government trial to explore the potential of setting up a clam and oyster purification system at Rye. This week, we have also been invited to join a new research panel for the government’s Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), to look at improvements across borders, biosecurity and trade to help improve digital services for UK imports and exports.
We believe that we have a responsibility to support our community, to ensure that it remains a thriving town for generations to come. If Brixham successfully takes over our fishing ports, (and its not just Rye – they are using government money to put fridges in ports across the country), we will lose far more than fish.
Image Credits: Chris Lawson , Chapman's of Rye , Chris Button .
Local is important! On a sustainability basis, Rye’s fish should not have to travel to Brixham – especially if it has to travel back to Rye to be sold here. Minimising transport costs (and ensuring freshness) is so important. But even more importantly, if Brixham drives our local companies out of business, the price it will pay our local fishermen for their fish is highly likely to fall (substantially) reducing their already slim margins and we could potentially lose a local seller of local fish. As Louise says, there are 2 fishmongers in Rye and this should keep pricing keen (and fair). We must support our local companies and encourage them, as Chapmans has done with their wonderful seafood bar (you really should try it!), to expand their local offerings which add to making Rye such a wonderful place to live.
A fantastic article, Louise! You address firmly all the points made by others and respond in a considered and extremely informed piece. Many of us have learned from and really enjoyed reading this and totally support the local fishermen and fishmongers in our small town.
An extremely informative article about the local fishing community and the importance of trying to keep the area’s fishing industry vibrant. Chapman’s is such a wonderful resource for Rye.
Thanks, Louise. I’m certain that would be fascinating and I’m grateful to you for the offer of your time. Perhaps Rye News will pass on your email address or forward a note from me as I would like to drop you a line. I’m writing here as a member of our community, which is the capacity in which I originally commented. Best of luck, Louise.
Thanks again Louise for putting things so clearly. Let’s hope all that is happening on Simmons Quay brings renewed interest, enterprise and investment for the benefit of everyone.