Sales of locally caught fish are returning to Whitehaven Harbour.
The sales are being reintroduced by Whitehaven Fisherman’s Co-Operative, an organisation that maintains and supports West Cumbria’s fishing community, as a way of diversifying business.
It is the first time in several years that fresh fish, shellfish and crustaceans have been sold on the harbourside by local fishermen.
The co-operative’s first sale took place Saturday and saw dozens of people turn up to show their support to the five boats and crews supplying the sale.
Queues were spotted along the length of the harbourside and some people waited up to 40 minutes to get their hands on local seafood.
Ron Graham, chair of the co-operative, said: “The sale ran from 11am till 1pm and it went extremely well, we’re very pleased at the support of the public, there’s no doubt about that at all.
“There has been a decline in inshore fishing in the UK for a number of years and we’ve been sending what we caught in Whitehaven down to the northern markets, but the problem was they were poor prices compared to the cost of running a vessel.
“The idea of selling locally came about as we decided to try our hand and see whether we could get better prices for what we were landing by retailing them to the local public.
“There has previously been selling in Maryport on the quayside which went quite well and one of our boats in Whitehaven was selling as well, but this time we’ve decided to do it together.”
Ron added that the co-operative plans to continue running local sales on the harbourside but that they will be weather-dependent.
He said: “Our problem now is looking at the experience first hand from Saturday was that we had a queue a mile long and fortunately we had just enough to satisfy everyone who came.
“So there was ample crabs, lobster, skates, razor clams, and more for everyone who came, some people maybe wanted more and had to take a little less but we virtually sold out.
“Now the expectation would be that next time we’ll do the same, but we are very much governed by weather.
“The weather was quite good and settled during the course of November so we were able to get out, get stuff and put it in the chiller and make sure the boats were landing that day for the sale at 11am
“So what we need to do when we call the next one is make sure we have enough stock to satisfy the need.”
Plans are also being discussed to create a more permanent set up for the co-operative to sell fresh fish on the harbour.
Ron said: “When we look at Whitehaven there is no doubt about the town itself needing more footfall, there is no question about that.
“We will play our part in that process and we want to continue with what we started last Saturday. We will have to look at the regularity of that, but I think the sale has been extremely well received.
“Our intention now is twofold, we could look at something like reinventing a premises or we could work with Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners with a view to having a stall there that would be purpose built for regularity.
“We don’t always catch what people want when we’re at sea because fish like cod are in short supply with conservation measures and climate change affecting fish.
“So to make a premises or stall successful, we might decide to bring fish in and another side of that is we could consider processing, that might mean for example processing crab to make it into a paste to sell in a small tub.
“But at the sale, people couldn’t believe what we were selling at the price, I think it was a real benefit to the public who wanted something like that instead of going to the supermarkets.”
The co-operative plans to keep customers updated on the dates of upcoming sales via its new Facebook page Whitehaven Fishermen Cooperative Fresh Fish Sales.
