A commercial fishing fleet is now a thing of the past at Aldeburgh. Skipper Dean Fryer explains why: ‘Bureaucracy, paperwork, over-the-top EU quotas and the rising costs of simply fuelling and maintaining a boat has driven most fishermen out of business.’
Nevertheless, fishing seems to be a part of the DNA for many. The high tide line along the beach is marked by a sprinkling of small boats and, behind them, a row of black fishermen’s huts. Typically a catch might include sole, skate, bass, flounder, lobster and/or crab.
The shingle beach shelves steeply and ‘vintage’ tractors are used to haul the boats to safe dry land.
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I love the smells, sights and sounds of local fishing ports – maybe not really commercially viable now, hopefully we won’t lose them completely and one day they’ll get a new lease of life.
I agree. I find ‘working’ boats much more interesting than their glamorous cousins in a marina.
Overfishing and vintage boats – same story in so many places, it’s sad. Your photographs convey that small fishing village atmosphere so well.
Quota restrictions are often quite devastating for small fishing communities for whom fishing has provided their livelihood for generation after generation. And, of course, fishing is no longer a localized industry.