The Netherlands have quite a number of small fishing communities, especially in the northern part along the coast of the Wadden Sea which is directly connected to the North Sea. A row of islands forms the border between the North Sea and the Wadden Sea which makes the latter fairly attractive for fishing when stormy winds prevent boats from entering the North Sea.

Erik Rotgans (32) is a skipper on the 19 metre long shrimp trawler WR-54 ‘Cornelis Nan’. Brown shrimps (Crangon crangon) are the target species. The 49 Gross Tonnage (GT) trawler is fitted out with two shrimp beam trawls. Fishing on brown shrimps is not easy since the catches show huge fluctuations every year. According to scientists, it is difficult to carry out research on the size of the stock and biomass. Therefore, it is difficult to provide advice. That is also the reason why there is no quota. One month the catches can be very poor and within a couple of days fishermen can be faced with an explosion of brown shrimp. It is not possible to estimate the size of these crustaceans.

Erik lives in a small, traditional fishing community called Den Oever which is situated on the former island of Wieringen. Before the fishing boats from Wieringen enter the North Sea they first have to pass through the shallow Wadden Sea.

As most of the fishermen from Wieringen, Erik is member of a fishing family. His great grandfather used to fish with a wooden flat bottomed boat, depending on the wind and the tide. This was not always easy since in the Wadden Sea strong tides were always running.

Erik became a fisherman when he was 18 years old after getting his diploma in the fisheries college in Den Helder. He loves his job, stating: “It is a privilege to work at sea. The suspense you feel when the cod end is hanging above the deck, it is always a surprise. Of course you always have expectations but still it is unpredictable most of the time”. According to Erik it is fascinating to see what the sea will provide every time. “There is so much life at sea and catches are not always the same. The compilation of the catch varies every day and sometimes depends on the location or the weather. The size of the catch varies also every time. Everything in the cod end is alive, shrimps, worms, whelks, fish, crabs and different type of starfish.”

On board the WR-54, the 2-men crew is responsible for processing the shrimp. The boat is equipped with modern grading machines in order to separate the shrimp from the rest of the catch. After grading, the shrimp will be cooked straight away. The shrimp are becoming red and at that moment they are ready for eating, you only have to peel them.

After cooking, the shrimp will be packed in plastic bags and stored in the hold in order to keep them fresh. Depending on the size of the catches, Erik lands the shrimp twice a week in Den Oever. The port of Den Oever has direct access to the Wadden Sea and it is more or less the capital of the former island of Wieringen. It is famous because of the top quality landings of shrimp and nephrops. The fleet of Wieringen consists of approximately 30 shrimp trawlers and more than 10 multi riggers for nephrops. On top of this, there are also small boats called Euro beamers, whole year round twin-riggers for flatfish and nephrops and fresh water fishing boats.

The Dutch beam trawl fleet counts less than 65 vessels. In less than two decades the size of this fleet has shrunk significantly. In the southwest part of The Netherlands there are still some small fishing ports from where every Monday morning a number of beam trawlers are heading to the fishing grounds in the southern part of the North Sea which is known by very strong tidal currents.

The fishing port of Vlissingen is located on the south coast of a former island as it was a delta area many years ago. Beam trawlers from Vlissingen and the neighbour fishing village Arnemuiden are using that port for landing their flat fish catches. One of the beamers is the ARM-22 ‘Klaas-Adriana’, built in 1993 and with an overall length of 44 metres. The skipper on this beamer is Jan Marijs.

Jan Marijs is, as most fishermen in The Netherlands, member of a traditional fishing family. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all fishermen. The father of Jan launched this vessel and later Jan Marijs replaced him when his dad retired.

The vessel makes fishing trips for a period of three to four days. In summer months, the ‘Klaas-Adriana’ lands the catches on Friday morning. Sometimes they already arrive to port on Thursday evening. During winter months, when fishing can be sometimes fairly good, skipper Jan Marijs opts for a 3-day trip. That means landing on Thursday morning. During the weekends they never fish. Fortunately the fishing grounds are not that far away. The grounds where the beamer normally fish are located between the Belgian, Dutch and British coast.

As the beamer used to fish with heavy duty gear such as tickler chains and iron shoes the fuel consumption was quite high. When the price of fuel started to increase Jan Marijs decided to remove the heavy parts of the fish gear and to reduce the speed during fishing. Over the past few years he and his brothers, three brothers are crew members, introduced the pulse technology onboard. From that moment the heavy duty gear was history and the fuel consumption decreased while the catches remain on the same level.

At the start of 2015 Jan Marijs signed in for the trawl net innovation project. The aim of the project is to reduce the by-catches of undersized and juvenile fish, especially flat fish. By putting a selective panel in the cod-end, including an escape panel on the top side of the cod-end, Jan and his crew are checking the impact continuously. Sometimes a researcher joins them in order to take samples and gather data. Skipper Marijs realises that the discard ban will force the fishermen to fish as selective as possible. “Although we will not be able to get a one hundred percent reduction on discards it is still worthwhile to figure out if our way of fishing is sustainable and acceptable. Of course the amount of undersized flat fish can be reduced to a certain level, but here in the southern North Sea it is almost impossible to avoid smaller flat fish. This area is characterised by the presence of juvenile sole, dab and plaice. Bigger meshes means losing a lot of sizable fish“, says skipper Marijs.Nevertheless he will continue with the trawl net innovation project because the ‘cleaner’ the cod-end is, the less work they have to do separating marketable fish from undersized fish.

Skipper Jan Marijs also mentions the change from traditional beam trawling to pulse trawling. Marijs: “The advantages of using pulse technology are great. The main engine consumes less fuel, therefore the emission has dropped, and the percentage of benthos, such as sea stars, worms, whelks, sea snails caught have also dropped in numbers too. So by introducing the electric technology we already made a lot of progress in terms of responsible fishing“. Moreover the pulse technology gear causes fewer disturbance to the seabed comparing with the traditional beam trawl method. In 2014 a French colleague, the owner of a gill netter from Dunkirk, joined the crew onboard the ‘Klaas-Adriana’. Skipper Marijs invited him in order to show him that everything in the cod-end is alive. The French fisherman was surprised. He could not believe his eyes. For the Dutch beam trawl fleet electric pulse technology is a major step towards responsible fishing.

Gijs Duijndam lives in the old Dutch fishing village Katwijk. He raised up in a real salty climate. He is member of a fishing family. His father, uncles and older nephews used to be fishermen on small herring drifters, pelagic freezer trawlers and beam trawlers. During that time the whole family was depending on fishing. Grandfather and great-grandfather were also fishermen. They used to fish on sailing smacks and later herring drifters. In those days his grandfather was first mate on the biggest steam trawler (side winder called ‘Vios’) of Ymuiden, the most important fishing port of The Netherlands. Nowadays just two nephews from Gijs are working on pelagic freezer trawlers.

At the age of eight Gijs joined his father during school holidays on a pelagic trawler. Later his father found employment on beam trawlers on which Gijs also made some holiday trips. During those trips he got infected by the fisheries virus. After finishing his primary school he decided to go to the local fishing college where he thrived. For more than twenty years, Gijs has been first mate onboard the pelagic freezer trawler ‘Carolien’ which is owned by trawler company Cornelis Vrolijk BV based in Ymuiden. With a crew of 48 fishermen this freezer trawler is fishing pelagic species such as herring, mackerel, horse mackerel, blue whiting and smelt. The 125 metres long ‘Carolien’ operates in different fishing grounds, i.e. around the British isles, the northern part of the north east Atlantic and the Gulf of Biscay. “It all depends where the fish is and if quota are available“, says Gijs. The duration of the trips of the freezer trawler ‘Cafrolien’ varies between fifteen days and five weeks. It depends on the distance to the fishing grounds and the catchability of the target species.

The first mate of the freezer trawler ‘Carolien’ is familiar with pelagic trawl net concepts. The ‘Carolien’ is fully equipped for this type of fishing. “Since about three years we are focussed on collecting different data of the species we are catching. We use cameras in the trawl net in order to get an impression of the fish behaviour. We use escape panels in the net. We want to get rid of juvenile fish and species which are commercially not worth catching. So far, we have made quite some progress. Every time we notice improvements after correcting the position of the panel“, says Gijs Duijndam. The ‘Carolien’ is involved in a number of projects which are financed by the EU and the Dutch government. It all has to do with reducing the amount of by-catch.

According to the first mate of the ‘Carolien’ they sometimes have to deal with a mixed fisheries, while mackerel is a target species. Shoals of mackerel and horse mackerel are swimming all together. In order to avoid by-catches of horse mackerel when fishing mackerel, the captain and the mates are using advanced sonar technology. In general the by-catch rate of unwanted species in pelagic trawl fishing is very low. In most cases less than 5 %. Therefore it is a clean fishery.

Gijs appreciates and is proud about the fact that a part of the Dutch pelagic trawl fleet is involved in gathering fish stocks data. Scientists from the national research institute IMARES are joining the crew of the freezer trawlers on a regular basis. They are taking samples and collecting different data in order to get a more precise and reliable picture of the size and the health of the pelagic fish stocks.

Although the Dutch freezer trawlers do not catch any flatfish at all the favourite meal of Gijs onboard is pan fried Dover sole with mustard sauce. In between the cook of the ‘Carolien’ often delivers meals with house smoked herring and mackerel. There is a special smoke house (a wooden barrel) behind the wheelhouse of the freezer trawler.

Battista Sanguedolce lives and works in Rimini, a famous seaside resort close to the tiny principality of San Marino. Hailing from a long line of fishermen originally from Lampedusa in the southern Mediterranean, Battista began fishing with his father 33 years ago at the age of 13.

Now plying his trade in the Adriatic Sea aboard his 8.5m boat Freccia (Arrow), Battista and his crew of three usually target sole, gurnard, squid and sea snails, depending on the season. Battista uses a variety of fishing methods including nets, gill and trammel nets, fish traps and baskets for the snails.

Battista is committed to sustainability and ensuring the future of the industry. However, he also feels that fishermen are facing increasing costs to stay in the industry, with the rising price of fuel as a particular example.

Battista’s average day begins before dawn, when he will go out to fish before returning port and preparing the fish for sale. He then sets up shop and sells his fish directly in the main square of the port of Rimini for roughly four hours between 8:30 and 12:30. Battista then takes a break, mooring the boat before returning home for lunch with his family and an afternoon rest. However, his day is not yet done as just before sunset he ventures back out to sea to drop the nets for another three hours of work before coming home, eating dinner and going straight to bed. Battista does this for at least five days a week, except in summer, where he does it every single day.

Unsurprisingly, Battista says the long hours and the time spend away from his family is the most challenging part of his job, but that he loves the rewarding feeling of coming home knowing the day went well.

David Stevens runs the family owned, 20 metre trawler Crystal Sea, along with his brother Alec. He has been fishing for nearly 25 years, but his family’s fishing heritage goes back to the 13th Century.

Today, David and his crew of four catch 25 plus different species, but predominantly target haddock, angler fish, lemon sole and John Dory. Their trawler operates in the south western approaches where the Atlantic Ocean meets the rugged Cornish coast. They are often out at sea for five to six days, depending on the weather, as to maximise the quality and freshness of their catch.

The crew catches an estimated 500 tonnes of mixed whitefish every year. This equates to approximately 900,000 meals!

The Crystal Sea is heavily involved in a number of sustainability initiatives, including a Fully Documented Fisheries Scheme with the UK government, which involves having CCTV fitted to the vessel to monitor everything that happens on board. As well as this the crew is running a fully documented catch trial on all species this year, which involves landing all their catch at port so that the fishing authorities have an idea of how the landings obligation will work in practice.

As part of this trial, David and the crew came up with their own clever adaptation to the fishnet to reduce the amount of juvenile haddock retained. This reduced their discards by a massive 87 per cent.

David believes fishermen should be actively involved in collecting data on fish stocks, as they are best placed to provide it in real time. This allows scientists to build up a more accurate picture of fish stocks and recovery, which can only benefit the industry.

One of David’s favourite fish for catching, and for eating, is the John Dory. He calls it a great tasting and unique fish, which takes experience and knowledge to catch. Despite the technology available for locating fish, David often uses the state of the tides as his guide for where to shoot his nets.

Video courtesy of Cornwall Good Seafood Guide

James Locker, from England, is the captain of the seven strong crew on the pair trawler OUR Lass III, part of the of Lockers Trawlers fleet. There are three generations of fishermen in James’ family, including his father, Arnold Locker, owner of Lockers Fish and Trawlers and ex chairman of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisation.

His vessel, which catches primarily cod and haddock, was instrumental in setting up and pioneering the Fully Documented Fisheries Scheme with the UK government’s Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs, meaning that every step of the fishing process is video monitored by 24 hour CCTV. All Lockers Trawlers’ vessels now operate under the scheme and have done so since 2010.

Lockers itself has taken significant steps to strengthen its commitment to sustainability and efficient fishing. By using highly selective nets and participating in gear trials, its discard rate has been brought down to an unprecedentedly low level.

James believes that fishing has changed dramatically since he started in the industry 19 years ago. Originally working a 4-5 day week operating out of his home port of Whitby, Yorkshire, he now works a 7 day week out of Peterhead in Scotland. This, he says, is why vessel efficiency is key to achieving success as it has to be balanced against quota and market prices.

The most rewarding part of the job, according to James, is taking the boat back to port with a good catch and being satisfied that he and his team have achieved all they can.

Below is a video showing the process Lockers fish goes through to get from trawler to table.

Joseba Arego Uriel has been a fisherman for 38 years. He operates out of the Province of Castellón on a 49m catamaran with 12 other men. Catching mainly anchovies and some sardines, Joseba’s working day starts at around 10pm. That’s because he and the crew fish overnight. Often they get back to port around eight o’clock in the morning to unload their catch at port, before preparing the boat ready for the next night.

Having been in the industry since 1977, Joseba and is a fourth generation fisherman, with his father, grandfather and great-grandfather also making a living on the seas. His youngest son, who is just 16 years old, is planing on entering the family business soon.

According to Joseba, the industry is still in danger of overexploiting stocks. However, aboard his vessel they take sustainability very seriously. For instance, under EU law the minimum net mesh size is 9cm for Mediterranean anchovy, yet Joseba and his crew use 11cm. This is because they believe it will be better for the conservation of the species. Furthermore, fishermen have worked together to limit the number of boxes of sardines and anchovies that they land every day. This has a double benefit as it avoids overexploitation and helps the fishermen get a better price at auction.

Joseba started in the fishing industry voluntarily 38 years ago and still loves everything about his job. He loves being in touch with nature, and he loves the daily hunt, not knowing what could happen. He also loves a grilled sardine.

Joaquín Gandón Sotelo is the manager of Spanish fishing company Hermanos Gandón. It operates three vessels between 54 and 77 metres in length. It fishes in the North Atlantic and catches more than 30 different species of fish including Greenland halibut, skate, grenadier and red fish.

Hermanos Gandón was created in 1951 when don Wenceslao Gandón Casal, Joaquín’s grandfather, built his own 19m wooden seiner after almost 20 years as the captain on other people’s vessels. Wenceslao successfully ran the company until 1980 when his three sons, also lifelong fishermen, took over. Joaquín took the helm in 1999 having been involved in the industry since 1980.

For Joaquín, the best part of his job is being able to provide long careers for people, with more than 20 crewmembers working with the company for over 20 years and a further 50 being with Hermanos Gandón for more than 10 years. Yet, at the same time, Joaquín fears that with the fate of the industry in the hands of people who are not fishermen, such as politicians, at any moment it could be decided to close all the fishing grounds Hermanos Gandón rely upon for reasons not related with fishing and 100 people could lose their jobs.

However, Joaquín remains optimistic and sees the global trend for natural products and food as being a huge opportunity for the industry. With fish a wild and fresh produce, he expects one day for it to become seen as a delicacy that people are willing to pay a premium for.