New figures have revealed around 40 million protein portions are landed into Cornwall’s fishing ports every year. It’s been calculated by the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation (CFPO) based on the most recently complete landings data captured by Seafish. It follows the publication of research earlier this year, which discovered Cornwall’s seafood sector brings in £174 million pounds to the county’s economy and employs around 8,000 people. A number of signs aimed at educating visitors on the value of Cornwall’s seafood sector are going to be placed in harbours across the county. .
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| The first has been unveiled in Mevagissey by Noah Law, the new MP for St Austell and Newquay |
MP Noah Law said: “I’m thrilled to see this sign up. The awareness it’s going to be raising for Mevagissey is fantastic because that’s the word we need to spread, it’s not just what you catch in the net but the whole ecosystem around the fishing industry and we should be very proud it. You’ve got to look at the bigger picture and see all the jobs that it creates. “Food security is a big priority for our government and if we’re going to be procuring more from our farmers and fishermen, we’ve got to keep supporting them and make sure we put fishing on a long-term footing, not just for the immediate future but for the next generation.”
Signs are due to appear next in Padstow, Newquay, Falmouth, St Ives and Newlyn. The signs also include a QR code to put passers-by in touch with Cornish merchants and fishermen selling fresh seafood.
The unveiling comes in the same week the new fisheries minister Daniel Zeichner visited Cornwall, who said shortly after his new appointment “while past administrations may have ignored the role fishers play in the food sector, we recognise their place in feeding our country and the world.” Mevagissey is home to the second largest fishing port in Cornwall and is responsible for 300 jobs in the county’s seafood sector. Fishermen in the village bring in more than £2million pounds a year.
Mevagissey’s Harbour Master, Andrew Trevarton, said: “I don’t think the general public really realise the importance of fishing, the availability of locally caught seafood and the wider economic benefits so it’s a tremendous feeling to have this sign up raising awareness. Mevagissey alone has a tourism footfall of up to eight hundred thousand people a year, if only 10% of those people stop to read this sign then it’ll have a huge impact.”
The True Value of Seafood to Cornwall report was commissioned by the CFPO following the publication of their Cornish Fishing Strategy in 2021. Its aim was to refocus the strategic vision for the Cornish seafood industry post Brexit. Four key areas of action were highlighted; science & sustainability, ports infrastructure, recruitment & retention and communications & marketing. This project has been funded by Seafood Cornwall, the marketing arm of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation.
