MEET The FISHERMEN
Adrian Lester
From the Hannah Jack
I'm not from a fishing family but grew up next to the water in a small village on the outskirts of Plymouth and have always loved fishing. I started working on a commercial fishing boat at the age of 17 and bought my first boat at 21 , I have been an owner/ Skipper for the past 37 years. We mostly use tangle nets for monkfish, turbot and rays but also spent 12 years ring netting for sardines. At the moment we are fishing for turbot approximately 14 miles south of Plymouth and land our fish through Plymouth where it gets transport to Brixham Trawler Agents to be sold at the auction, we used to use Plymouth Trawler Agents before the market unfortunately closed. We also sell our shellfish directly to RG Seafoods who have a unit on Plymouth fish quay.
Tony Heinemann
I’ve been involved from the age of 9 in the fishing industry here in Plymouth, working on my uncles trawlers/scalloper at the weekend by helping land and sort their catch then progressing going to sea at weekends and school holidays. Going on to skipper one of the boats at times.
At age 22 went into the royal navy for which I spent 22yrs, but i still had involvement in the industry. Upon leaving the Navy I went back to fishing but pursued the sustainable fishing methods buying my first purpose built vessel for rod and line commercial fishing targeting mainly bass and pollack, I've been doing this now for the past 11yrs and despite demanding conditions at times I wouldn't want to do anything else.
Joe Lynch
I’m Joe I’m 22 years old I’ve now been commercial fishing for 7 years and running my own boat for 5 I work a 25 foot monohull called ‘KRAKEN’ using rod and line and longlines bass is the mainstay of my catch from April until January I pride myself on the quality of my fish with each fish being bled then straight into slush I’ve then cleaned and onto ice not long after to maintain the fish quality I work from Portland Plymouth and Brixham throughout the year.
Steve Walker
Steve operates the Kindred Spirit, fishing with a twin rig light weight stern trawl fitted with 100mm mesh and square panel for increased selectivity and sustainability. The trawls he uses are 10inch rockhoppers/rubber discs to keep all the net off the sea bed. They are about 70 feet long and cuvre to make a semi-circle and herd the fish into the middle where the fish is then funnelled down to the codend. On its way any small fish not chosen will escape through a square panel of 120mm which opens the net in the opposite direction to the main net creating squares instead of diamonds thus allowing juvenile fish to escape. The codends are 110 mm to allow any small fish that miss the square mesh panel to escape, therefore making our nets as sustainable as possible and only retaining the best quality fish for the market.