Dabs, a member of the plaice and flounder family do not feature weight-wise in terms of landings on the market at Newlyn. Boats fishing 'up-channel' (that's the Bristol Channel) deep off Pendeen are more likely to have a bog haul of dabs than anywhere else.
When it comes to eating dabs provide small, delicate fillets that can be used in any recipe that suggest you use plaice or other flats. the fillets cook in almost seconds, gently fired in a shallow pan, steamed or if you have the gear, deep fried, whole on the bone. They are also generally a much cheaper option than other more well known flats so one to keep your eyes open for if you are feeding the masses!
Dab are a relatively abundant species of flatfish which provide a more sustainable alternative to more vulnerable, longer-lived and overfished species of flatfish such as plaice. They are mostly taken as bycatch in trawl fisheries and often discarded because of its low market value. Stock levels of dab are poorly understood in our the south-west (though fishermen have all the evidence to say exactly where and when they can be caught) but there is little evidence that the stocks are unhealthy. They can be bought on the auction for an average price of £1.50 per kilo.
Catches of dab landed in Cornwall have fluctuated between five and twenty tonnes per year since the 1990's. In 2019 a total of 5 tonnes of dab were landed to Cornish ports with a value of £3.5k (MMO data). As of July 2019.
