Friday 17 October 2014

Sprat fishing Brixham style


Spend the day with Dave Hurford aboard the Brixham trawler Constant Friend. 

Says Dave Hurford, "The sprat season runs from mid-August to mid-February. Sprats have a life-cycle of six years, so they are in constant abundance on this coastline. The amount we catch varies from day to day, but it can be anything from 10 tonnes to 30 tonnes. Fishing is a very labour-intensive job; there are four on the boat, and they have to haul each tonne on board between them, one at a time. At the moment, By the time they've landed the boat and cleaned everything down, it can be 9pm. The boat works six days a week, weather permitting!"


See a Guardian article on the skipper here: