Based on a different interpretation of the quote „The big fish eats the little fish” our logo symbolises the frightening decline of the amount of some fish stocks and the subsequent consequences: the decline of the whole fishing industry.

Now that we have a logo we can create and start delivering our message and gain recognition and maybe in the end even awareness!

An interview with Jim - A chaotic account.

Jim has been a fish merchant/fish processor for the past 20 years. His father was also a fisherman so fishing has been a huge part of his life.

Jim used to work (process) his own fish but stopped this when it became financially unviable to do so back in 2002.

This was due to the new EEC regulations regarding buildings that were suitable for fish processing and the amount of money it would have cost to change his current fish shed to meet these regulations. He said it was the same for a lot of the fish merchants in the area and that it was only the larger firms that could afford to do this. As a result of this his 3 person team turned into a 1 person team.

The larger firms send lorries back and forth to Aberdeen/Peterhead/Hull and Newhaven. He said that fish is even ferried in from Ireland, Norway and the Faroe Islands to satisfy consumer demand. He said that this may have something to do with the scarcity of fish in Scottish waters. He then buys his fish from the larger firms and then sells it on to the general public.

Jim says that there are upwards of 60 fish vans operating in the East Neuk of Fife and that he himself travels as far as Kinross to sell his fish to the consumer. However, he went on to say that some people travel to the Borders, the West Coast of Scotland and South of Glasgow. He leaves for work at 04:30 in the morning and sometimes doesn't get home until 8 in the evening - Some fish merchants do not get home until 10 at night!

He went on to explain that the reason for there being so many fish merchants in the area is mainly due to tradition. It is a question of heritage and culture, these people have grown up in the fishing industry and want to remain there.

The fish that he sells from his van is often the result of what fish is actually available but he tries to keep his van stocked with what his customers regularly want. i.e. Haddock/Salmon. Although he has noticed an increase in the diversity of his customers, some are looking for less traditional fish like Halibut and Monkfish but he can really only obtain this as a favour to regular customers as the profit margin just isn't there to make it worth stocking it. He mentioned that there is fish available all year round, however the quality of the fish often changes at the end of the spawning season. 

He states that some customers are now more aware of the issues facing the fishing industry, however what they learn is often what they see on t.v. or in newspapers. He also said that some of his customers are becoming more environmentally aware, that they are refusing to take their fish in a plastic bag and instead prefer to have the fish placed on one of their own plates. This is the way it used to be done when he first started out. Some of his customers are trying to become more eco-friendly.

When asked about the state of fish stocks he stated that they were improving, however the destruction of the seabed has taken the bottom out of the food chain and if this is the case then the upper levels will falter. There is also the issue of undersize fish and the legislation that was put in place to stop fishing vessels landing young fish, however this has become a problem due to the fact that the vessels now discard the smaller fish and they are more often than not dead. So there is upwards of 50% waste before the fish is even ashore.

We then talked about the current state of the fishing industry and his opinion is that it is not brilliant in the East Neuk at least. It is a struggle. There are now less boats and even more boats are set to be decommissioned in the near future. The real problem with this, is that no boats means no jobs. Jim's opinion is that the Scottish fleet has been decimated and although many of the people that lost their jobs in the fishing industry have managed to find jobs elsewhere e.g. the oil industry, however this is not always an option for some and there are only so many jobs available this sector. People have to make a living and due to fishing quotas and current legislation a lot of fisherman are only allowed to spend 14 days at sea over the course of one month.

This lack of jobs is forcing people away from the area and ultimately out of Scotland.

That's enough for now... kind of chaotic but very helpful I think.

trip to Pittenweem

Here are a few photographs from a recent trip to Pittenweem just to try and get a feel for our subject matter. It's strange for me trying to study this area as I grew up smack bang in the middle of it. I feel like I am maybe slightly too close to the topic to be able to connect in the same way as other members of the group. Simply because I grew up there and know people there doesn't necessarily mean I'm the best person for the job.

Brixton Fish Markets

So whilst the rest of the group have been firing on with research local to Dundee and Fife for the Food and Sustainability project, I have been undertaking a short work placement in London and therefore attempted to utilize the resources around me to obtain relevant research (well, as relevant as is possible considering the project is supposed to be based on locality to the Dundee area as much as it sustainability...).  I guess, however, that there is really no such thing as 'irrelevant' research, so what I learnt in London will still be applicable to what we are focusing on within our project here in Dundee.

A large part of my time in London was spent living in Brixton; an area known to be rich in ethnic and cultural diversity and known to be the most ethnically diverse district in the whole of London.  It is also home to the infamous Electric Avenue (yes, it is a real place!), where I carried out the majority of my project research.

Electric Avenue features a plentiful array of market stalls, both indoor and outdoor, spanning the entire length of the street itself.  The markets sell an eclectic carnival of African, Caribbean, and Portuguese products to name but a few, specialising in every kind of fresh produce imaginable, from fruit and vegetables to butchers’ stalls and fresh fish mongers; the latter of which being our main focus area.

The Electric Avenue markets are open more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with an additional specialist farmer’s market on a Sunday.  They feature more variation and species of fish on display than I have ever seen - ever (!); never mind in other markets, let alone in supermarkets.

It seems a lot can be learned from the Brixton markets in terms of what can be brought back to Scottish soil – both the Electric Avenue and ‘Brixton Markets’ have their own individual websites which even provide the consumer with recipes to try based on the fresh fish produce that is offered on sale at the markets daily.

With both licensed and casual traders offering produce, it also poses the question of where all of the produce is sourced.  Some some markets even feature signage such as ‘We ship FedEx overnight to anywhere in the USA…’. O RLY?

I believe it could be useful to make comparisons between the Electric Avenue fishing markets and Scottish farmer’s markets and fisheries, making specific relevance to Dundee and Fife, obviously; what are the benefits for example, of living by the coast?  With an array of costal towns and villages around us in the area such as Anstruther and Pittenweem, it poses the question that if the London fish monger's of Brixton, where there are no notable local coastal landscapes/rivers etc that are as readily accessible as in Dundee, can still proclaim to offer ‘fresh’ produce daily, is our local area in Scotland really utilizing all the resources on offer around us...?

Although I did not manage to conduct a great deal of ‘proper’ interviews with sellers, so to speak, having passed the market at around 8am every morning daily when it just begins to kick off, it became more than apparent to me how much waste must also be produced considering the stalls were still reasonably packed with produce when I passed again on the way home around 7pm. 

Bringing the research obtained from the Brixton markets back home into the Scottish fishing context, it will be interesting to visit Fife this coming Wednesday to undertake localized research and crate comparisons between the two.

Maria 

Friend of the Sea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68aSdFZwD3w

Relevant

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6112352.stm

Recipe!!!

Seafood Scotland is a trade organisation set up in 1999 by the main representatives of the Scottish seafood industry, to market, promote and develop responsibly caught Scottish seafood in order to maximise the value return to industry.

Seafood Scotland also acts as delivery partner for Seafish in Scotland. The organisation works closely with all sectors of the Scottish seafood supply chain, from catching and processing, through to retail, food service and consumption, and encourages and facilitates those sectors to cooperate together.

 

Check the recipes here:

 

http://www.seafoodscotland.org/en/recipes.html