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.