Fish sales soar!

All the major supermarkets have seen a dramatic increase in wet fish sales - and th good news for the south west is that fish like mackerel, sprats (being caught of Brixham at the moment) and Dover soles are amongst the market leaders. As reported earlier, buyers at the big stores were wrong footed in the wake of the public's buying reaction to the FishFight programmes which has seen lesser known fish being asked for at the fish counters up and down the UK.

It's a shame hake didn't get a good mention in any of the programmes - given the weak market for the fish as a drect result of a depressed Spanish market - many of the Cornish net boats continue to shy away from chasing hake.

We've yet to see any official response from the fisheries organisations here in the South West. Papers in the other regions are reporting favourable comments from up and down the coast - Grimsby - Aberdeen.