Prawn Wars: Landward Special Landward


Prawn Wars: Landward Special

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This is the dramatic West Coast of Scotland,

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one of the most stunning seascapes anywhere in the world.

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It attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year...

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..but this isn't just a picture postcard environment.

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It is a place where people live and work.

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Come on, you're not even trying.

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We've got it.

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The often-tempestuous waters provide one of the few

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sources of income in this part of the world...

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..prawns.

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Traditional creel boats

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and modern industrial fishing machines battle with nature

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to bring this catch home, driving tempers to boiling point.

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He might have got a broken nose had he said no.

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I could lose two or three hours' fishing time,

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which is hundreds of pounds to me and my crew.

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This is what it takes to put one of the world's

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finest foods on our tables.

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This is a tale of tradition versus profit,

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of cheap food versus expensive,

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of fishermen versus fishermen.

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This is the story of the prawn wars.

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THEY CHAT

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It is the 24th of March.

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Skipper Alistair Philp, known as Bally,

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is bringing his boat into port.

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I'll put her in astern and then I'm going to knock her out of gear.

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It will just take the momentum.

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Kyleakin is a small harbour village

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just over the Skye bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh.

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It is a gateway to the thousands of square miles that make up

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the north-west fishery.

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Bally typically fishes in the Inner Sound

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between Skye and the mainland,

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but not today.

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I need her sort of parallel to the wall.

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Just let the momentum take her now.

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There's a type of paint that you put on the bottom of the boat

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each year and that stops seaweed and barnacles

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and things growing on the bottom of the boat.

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We haven't done it in a lot of months,

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so the bottom of the boat is covered in growth, we call it,

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and it slows us down and it causes us to burn a lot more fuel.

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Just take a turn, Dochus.

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Bally's crewman, Dochus Dochan, has been learning

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the ropes for the last four years.

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Their boat, Nemesis, is crucial to their survival -

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both physically and financially.

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Nemesis needs regular maintenance.

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They use the tide to get the boat high and dry.

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Considering that we didn't actually put antifoul on last time

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we pressure washed, there is hardly any growth at all.

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If the whole hull is covered in barnacles,

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it creates a huge surface area,

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so it works best when it's smooth, like a surfboard underneath.

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This is one of the best dry harbours in the area.

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You can see from the paint marks all the way up the harbour wall

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each boat in the fleet makes a pilgrimage to this harbour

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once a year to do their own antifouling.

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The biggest concern here is because this is a spring tide

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and not only is it a normal spring tide, it is a March royal,

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so it is the biggest spring tide of the year until October.

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If we go too high up the beach and the tide goes out and comes back

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in again, it doesn't come in quite as far,

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they call that being neaped.

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The danger would be that you are literally stuck here

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till October, unless a crane comes and takes you out.

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The boat... There's a boat on the slip who did exactly that.

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He went to the top of the tide yesterday,

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painted the bottom of his boat and when the tide came back in,

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he intended to float it off but the tide didn't come in as far.

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However, as time and tide wait for no man,

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Bally and Dochus need to get a move on.

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In six hours' time, the harbour will flood again.

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Between November and March, we barely got 20 days at sea

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and most of them haven't even been very productive.

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The prawns have been what they call off,

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which basically means they are hard to catch.

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So, yeah, we are hoping that once we have done the maintenance

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on the boat and... In the next couple of weeks,

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hopefully the prawns will come on and we will be ready for them.

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That's the plan.

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-I think you missed a bit.

-Where?

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-I'm teasing you.

-Shut up! I'll be scraping your paint.

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I'll put the kettle on for you, how about that?

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Don't say I'm not nice to you!

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Oh, that is very, awfully kind of you.

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Almost 20 miles south is the town of Mallaig.

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Sitting on the westerly tip of the North Morar Peninsula,

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it has been a fishing port since the mid-19th century.

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This harbour is home to the Rebecca Jeneen.

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She is the newest boat in the Mallaig fleet

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and very, very good at catching prawns.

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The Rebecca Jeneen is a trawler - a much bigger,

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more powerful fishing boat than the Nemesis.

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I have always been proud all my life to be a fisherman.

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Fishing is a hard life but it is a good way of life,

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it has always been a good way of life.

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It is something you probably have to be born to -

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there's very few people come into the fishing industry

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that aren't born in a fishing community.

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Robert Summers has been at sea for 30 years.

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Seven years ago, he built his £1 million state-of-the-art boat.

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RADIO: Stornoway Coastguard, Stornoway Coastguard,

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here are the new gale warnings.

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Hebrides, gale force eight.

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Increasing - severe gale force nine later.

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Winter storms have battered the West Coast for months,

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keeping the fleet in port.

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It is now spring and the Rebecca Jeneen

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needs to start catching prawns.

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There is a mortgage on this boat and wages to pay.

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The crew are at sea for four days at a time, trawling 20 hours a day.

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This boat here is the best fishing tool I have ever been at sea in

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in my life. This boat is capable of catching more prawns

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and it's better at fishing than any boat I've ever been in,

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and we are catching less prawns now.

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15, 20 years ago in an old boat, in an old engine, with no sensors,

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no monitors, we caught a lot more prawns than we do now.

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So there is a decline in the stock,

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but there is a decline in stock all up and down the Minches.

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I don't know what is causing it.

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It is not overfishing, I know it's not overfishing

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because there's not the boats about to overfish the stock.

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But on this trip, there are plenty of prawns heading into the hold.

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Scottish fishermen target langoustine,

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a species also known as Dublin Bay Prawns or Norway Lobsters.

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They are bigger than most other prawns,

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have got claws and are pink when they're caught.

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Trawled prawns are kept on ice and stored in the hold

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until they reach port a few days later.

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Back in Kyleakin, the tide is rising.

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Nemesis and her new paint job are heading to sea once again.

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The general plan is, on the computer

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my gear is marked in red from the last time I hauled it.

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We came out of Kyleakin Harbour through the Skye bridge here

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and we're heading roughly north past the Isle of Crowlin,

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which you can see out the window,

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and then our gear is another half a dozen miles north of Crowlin again.

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We have got four fleets here. That will take us to nearly lunchtime.

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Unlike the Rebecca Jeneen, Nemesis is a creel boat using baited traps.

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They fish in different ways but both are after the same catch -

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prawns.

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So, this is 60 creels and they are all connected together

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on the same rope with a buoy at each end.

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This is the mud on the seabed and this is the top of the sea.

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We have a buoy and then a large end rope

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and then it goes to a single creel, and then there's a joining

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piece of rope and then another creel

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and a joining piece of rope and another creel,

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and this goes along the seabed for several hundred metres

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until it gets to the far end, where there is another riser

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or end rope and another float

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and we have a choice to pick up either float.

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The beginning of a haul is always a tense moment.

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Empty creels mean empty wage packets.

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If you don't see a prawn in the first three creels,

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you kind of get an idea of what's going to happen.

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So, that is our first prawn of the day.

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It is not a great start, but the few prawns Bally has caught

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in this haul go into what are known as tubes.

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Unlike trawled prawns,

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creel-caught prawns are kept alive for the premium market.

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It is like a factory job in some ways, you know?

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Like on a conveyor belt, you get fast.

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Yeah, probably not even a kilo of prawns came out of there.

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Not even a tenner's worth. Probably a fiver's worth.

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That was a short fleet and it is just as well it is a short fleet

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because it was... HE MOUTHS

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Once we have hauled a fleet of creels,

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we are going to redeploy them.

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The prawns seem to move around and there is not much rhyme or reason

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to it, so we have moved a little bit - only 100 yards or so -

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and we have moved shallower and harder and hopefully...

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..we will see an improvement.

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Bally really does need to see that improvement.

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Recently, stormy weather has made it difficult to fish at all.

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He has bills to pay - the cost of the boat, the fuel,

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the wages, the bait.

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It all adds up.

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Unless we can catch over £300-worth of prawns in a day,

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we won't even get £50 wages.

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Last time we went out, we caught about £100-worth of prawns

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and we didn't even pay for the fuel.

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So we may not get anything for today, but we have to try.

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The bait gets eaten out of the creels within ten days or so

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and so if we don't put fresh bait in the creels,

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then there will be definitely no point in going out next time.

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And there's another problem on the horizon -

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the 1st of April is just days away.

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For the last six months,

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Bally and the other creelmen have had the Inner Sound to themselves.

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From April through to early autumn,

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they will have to share it with other boats -

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trawlers hunting prawns and dredgers hunting scallops.

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These waters are about to get very crowded.

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But this isn't just a problem in the Inner Sound.

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All the way up the West Coast,

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there are different rules for different places.

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But it hasn't always been this way.

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I am off to meet the man

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who has been fishing these waters for over 70 years.

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Iain MacDonald first put a boat into Gairloch back in 1944 aged just 16.

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He has witnessed how the fish stocks have changed

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and has adapted to that change.

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It is said he was the first man to realise the potential

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of langoustine, that are now so prized throughout the world.

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I started myself and a dinghy

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and I had a couple of old herring nets and I went out behind the house

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here and there was a lot of herring going, so I filled the dinghy

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three days running with herring,

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rowed it to Gairloch Pier and sold it.

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That's how I bought my first boat.

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So when you started fishing all those years ago back in 1944,

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how abundant were the waters around here?

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If you fell out in the sea,

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you wouldn't sink with the amount of fish that was in it.

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-It was terrific.

-And what was in the water, then? What kind of fish?

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-A lot of cod.

-Yeah.

-Tremendous amount of cod.

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They came in here in the spring to spawn.

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I crossed to Stornoway once...

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and sold it on the pier in Stornoway...

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..in little bundles - they all bid on it -

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and then sailed back here.

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We only did the one trip

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because the boat wasn't suitable for that sort of runs.

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In terms of actually sustaining communities,

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how important was the sea when you were a young man?

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Oh, very, very important.

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At the end of the season, when the fishing started to go off,

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there would be four crew in a boat and we had heaps of fish

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and each one took so many fish home and split them and salted them,

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that they'd have themselves for the rest of the year.

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Over time, catches of fish fell.

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Iain realised there was something else in the loch

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that might provide an income - prawns.

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I used to get an awful lot of them in the gill nets.

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-This size of prawn.

-Right.

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Just...

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A good lobster size.

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And, erm...

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Then I started with the creels.

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You let all the small ones go anyway

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and next year there was prawns there again for you.

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And eventually the locals started eating them.

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I had a market in Edinburgh for them.

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I used to send them down to Edinburgh, but just as tails -

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we tailed the prawns then.

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The tail was that size and that in the round.

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And they were sold in America and Canada

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as baby lobster tails.

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That's how the whole thing started.

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The creelmen of Gairloch fished undisturbed until the mid-1980s.

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Up to that point, trawlers were not allowed in inshore waters.

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They were restricted to fishing more than three miles from shore.

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The Thatcher government changed all that

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and opened the waters to everyone.

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Tell me about when the three-mile limit laws were lifted.

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What impact did that have?

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That was the stupidest thing they ever did.

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They had such a bonanza, the trawlers did,

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and they came into all the inshore grounds and everywhere.

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OK, they did awful well for a couple of years...

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..sweeping up everything. But it didn't last.

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It was a disaster, that, and for years and years,

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I was able to be left in peace until they started lifting my gear

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and towing it away and dumping it so that they could trawl.

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Trawling was a very destructive method of fishing.

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That is why I went for creels.

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Leave something for the next generation,

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that's the way I look at it.

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Because if you don't,

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what is the point of being here?

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That decision in 1984 set the scene for a conflict

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that is still being fought today.

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RADIO: Shore waters forecast.

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General situation - Atlantic weather fronts will become

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slow-moving across the United Kingdom today.

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The beginning of April and it is a free-for-all in the Inner Sound.

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Creelers and trawlers are now battling

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for the same catch in the same place.

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The danger is that as the trawlers tow their nets along the bottom,

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they can become entangled in fleets of creels.

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You can see the trawlers in the distance and you can see

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the buoys here in the water, which are marking creel fleets.

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One of the problems is that these trawlers are working only half

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a mile off the shore, which means that the creels now have to be within

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half a mile of the shore or else they're in the way of the trawlers.

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It just leaves a significantly less area of ground

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for the creel boats to fish on, such so that the creels then start to

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trip over each other and often you are fishing somewhere

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just because it is safe,

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not because you want to fish there or because there's prawns there.

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In some areas, it is literally war.

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Bally sets about hauling the last fleet of creels

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from this lucrative stretch.

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I mean, this pot is quite a good one.

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It has got one, two, three prawns and a large prawn.

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If they were all like that, we would make a living.

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It will be another six months before Bally fishes here again

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but wherever he hauls, he's selective about what he keeps

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and what he throws back.

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The prawns themselves, the squat lobsters,

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the starfish...

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..and almost all the fish that we catch can go back alive.

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Literally it swims away again.

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The only time that is not the case is if the birds manage to get it

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before it gets away.

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I mean, technically these are legally landable

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and some fishermen do land them.

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But for us, we can catch them again later,

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so it makes far more sense on the smallest grade,

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which is practically worthless,

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to return them.

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I mean, that is a legally landable prawn.

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Personally, I would like to see the law changed on that.

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For that smallest grade...

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..I think it is like £5 a kilo

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whereas if we wait till it gets larger, it is worth £15 a kilo...

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..and it takes far fewer prawns to make a kilo.

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Not only that, you know,

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they are not mature for the point of view of reproduction.

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A prawn this size will have reproduced -

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it will have had eggs and spawned new prawns...

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Whereas the smaller ones may not have yet bred...

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and it just seems a bit mad to catch and kill them

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before they've even bred.

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Scottish langoustine are luxury items, prized the world over.

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The vast majority of live prawns go abroad, but the French and Spanish

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are prepared to pay top dollar for these West Coast delicacies.

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My favourite bit of the day - getting home!

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This blue van putting his reversing lights on now, that's for us.

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See, we're catching that many prawns, they thought they'd film it.

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OK, cheers.

0:21:010:21:02

I'm catching a lift with John Maroney, just one of dozens of

0:21:080:21:12

van drivers who are the first link in the langoustine logistics chain.

0:21:120:21:16

We're going coast to coast - our destination, Dingwall.

0:21:160:21:20

So, John - how many ports do you actually pick up from?

0:21:210:21:24

Um, we've got about 30 boats and, er...

0:21:240:21:28

..probably about 15 or 20 places over Skye and Lochalsh.

0:21:300:21:34

So it can be a bit complicated to actually make sure you get to all the right places.

0:21:340:21:38

Yes, there's a bit of logistics going to get everything organised

0:21:380:21:42

and fitting the timing, the times with the boats.

0:21:420:21:45

And you also have a situation where you're travelling to

0:21:450:21:48

lots of different ports in the day.

0:21:480:21:50

Yes, we can have some really busy days.

0:21:500:21:53

And how do you coordinate between the drivers and the boats?

0:21:530:21:56

Er, a lot of phone calls!

0:21:560:21:59

Two hours after they've been landed,

0:22:030:22:05

the prawns make their first stop on their journey to the continent.

0:22:050:22:08

The langoustine are put into seawater tanks for storage,

0:22:120:22:16

but this isn't just any seawater.

0:22:160:22:18

Not only do the prawns come from the West Coast of Scotland,

0:22:180:22:21

-but all the water comes from the West Coast as well.

-Really?

0:22:210:22:26

So you've got the Cromarty Firth just out there

0:22:260:22:28

-and you're not using that water?

-Yep.

0:22:280:22:30

For whatever reason, the prawns want West Coast water,

0:22:300:22:33

so we do what the prawns want.

0:22:330:22:35

Keep the prawns happy and the customer will be happy, right?

0:22:350:22:37

Exactly! Exactly.

0:22:370:22:38

Once the prawns have had an overnight soaking,

0:22:380:22:42

preparations begin for their onward journey.

0:22:420:22:45

Managing director Ben Murray talks me through the process.

0:22:450:22:49

What's happening here, Dougie, is once the prawns have been taken out

0:22:490:22:52

of the storage tank, we open up the fishermen's tube

0:22:520:22:56

and we do two things - we're checking the quality of the product

0:22:560:22:59

and also making sure the grading is accurate for the end customer.

0:22:590:23:02

We take them out of the tubes and repack them

0:23:020:23:04

into polystyrene boxes with cardboard tubes again - and again, that is

0:23:040:23:08

-to protect the products so they don't fight with each other.

-Sure.

0:23:080:23:12

It's important they go to the customer live, right?

0:23:120:23:15

That's the whole idea behind the live shellfish sector,

0:23:150:23:19

that's the barometer of high-quality product.

0:23:190:23:21

It's arriving live at the chef's kitchen.

0:23:220:23:25

So where are your markets, where are they going to go to from this point?

0:23:250:23:28

France is our single biggest market, about 50%.

0:23:280:23:31

Spain about 20% and the UK about the other 30.

0:23:310:23:34

So when people are eating in the best restaurants in Paris

0:23:340:23:36

and thinking that the prawns and langoustine

0:23:360:23:39

-come from the Mediterranean, potentially they're Scottish?

-That's correct.

0:23:390:23:42

Is that a frustration for you?

0:23:420:23:44

Would you like to encourage more people in this country to eat them?

0:23:440:23:47

I'd like to encourage more people in the UK in general to eat them.

0:23:470:23:50

There's still a market, I believe, in the UK that people could

0:23:500:23:53

consume the Scottish langoustine rather than sending it abroad.

0:23:530:23:57

These langoustine will be on a dinner plate on the Continent

0:23:590:24:02

within 36 hours.

0:24:020:24:04

But my langoustine lunch is a bit closer to home.

0:24:060:24:09

For those of us who do want to eat langoustine, they can be found

0:24:110:24:15

if you know where to look, not just at the most expensive restaurants.

0:24:150:24:18

I'm told this pub here has some of the freshest sea-to-plate

0:24:180:24:22

seafood anywhere in the country.

0:24:220:24:23

I've arranged a lunch here at the Plockton Inn.

0:24:240:24:27

It's owned and run by former fisherman Kenny Gollan.

0:24:290:24:33

Also joining us is crewman Bally.

0:24:340:24:37

Now, Kenny - why did you give up being a fisherman

0:24:370:24:40

and become an owner of a restaurant?

0:24:400:24:43

Too old for fisherman, too tired...

0:24:430:24:46

All told, there's probably more money in selling prawns rather than

0:24:460:24:51

-catching them.

-Really? As simple as that?

-Yes.

0:24:510:24:54

What about yourself, Bally?

0:24:540:24:55

You're obviously loving this,

0:24:550:24:56

you spend your time catching these things.

0:24:560:24:59

Yes, I'm really enjoying this cos I don't have to pay for them!

0:24:590:25:02

Creel-caught prawns catch a premium price and so, you know,

0:25:020:25:05

when you catch them and sell them off, it breaks your heart

0:25:050:25:08

having to go and pay for them again, so this is good for me!

0:25:080:25:10

I mean, we don't eat enough of these in our own country.

0:25:100:25:13

Especially creel-caught prawns - they're far more expensive

0:25:130:25:16

than trawl-caught prawns and in other countries,

0:25:160:25:19

they queue up all day and pay fantastic sums of money for these,

0:25:190:25:22

so it's good to see that they are still eaten locally.

0:25:220:25:24

But we could do with a lot more of it - it would

0:25:240:25:26

make our industry far more sustainable

0:25:260:25:28

if more people in Britain ate seafood,

0:25:280:25:30

especially if they ate premium, sustainably-caught seafood.

0:25:300:25:33

Kenny, do you ever worry in the future because of the amount creels are worth

0:25:330:25:36

and the trawling that's going on, maybe out there,

0:25:360:25:40

-there won't be enough in 10 or 15, 20, 30 years' time?

-Well...

0:25:400:25:45

Firstly, in 30 years' time, if I'm worried about that, I'll be...

0:25:450:25:48

Seriously worried! But, er...

0:25:480:25:51

No, I think we've been talking about this for 40 years now, that

0:25:530:25:57

prawns are going to run out.

0:25:570:25:58

People tell us prawns are going to run out, and they're not.

0:25:580:26:01

Not everyone shares Kenny's optimism

0:26:030:26:06

and for the scores of villages and towns on the West Coast,

0:26:060:26:09

a sustainable fishing industry is crucial

0:26:090:26:13

to prevent them from becoming nothing more than tourist towns.

0:26:130:26:16

But in some places, it's already happening.

0:26:220:26:25

Fishing alone just isn't enough to survive.

0:26:250:26:28

I think if I went to see a bank manager and asked him

0:26:300:26:34

to borrow all the money I needed to buy a boat and a licence

0:26:340:26:37

and all the gear to go with it, and then told him how much I'd actually

0:26:370:26:42

expect to make in a year, I don't think he'd lend me the money.

0:26:420:26:47

On Dry Island, on the edge of Gairloch, Ian McWhinney

0:26:500:26:54

is the sixth generation of fisherman in his family.

0:26:540:26:57

He still creels for crabs, prawns and lobsters, but to make ends meet,

0:27:000:27:05

he's had to diversify into holiday cottages and shellfish safaris.

0:27:050:27:10

Want to see what's coming up, Angus? This is a crab creel here.

0:27:110:27:15

It's called a parlour creel.

0:27:150:27:17

'Today, Ian has his first safari customers of the season.'

0:27:170:27:21

It is called a kitchen, here. This is where you have the bait

0:27:210:27:23

so the idea is they wander in one of these eyes here, on either side...

0:27:230:27:27

Has something to eat here, in the kitchen

0:27:270:27:29

and then leaves into the parlour here.

0:27:290:27:31

This is the parlour bit, where everything gets trapped

0:27:310:27:34

until we come along to lift it.

0:27:340:27:35

This is what we're trying to catch here - a nice cock crab here.

0:27:350:27:38

So what we do with this is, when we catch them...

0:27:390:27:42

I'll make it safe for you, first. When we catch then...

0:27:420:27:45

We have to cut their claws, like this.

0:27:460:27:49

This is so they can't fight with each other, yeah?

0:27:490:27:52

We're going to pop him in there like that.

0:27:560:27:59

On Dry Island,

0:27:590:28:00

Ian is running a lifestyle business based on his heritage.

0:28:000:28:04

Elsewhere, fishing happens on an industrial scale.

0:28:040:28:08

Mallaig, the night of 7 April.

0:28:160:28:18

Another player is about to enter the fray.

0:28:180:28:22

The scallop dredger Vikingborg

0:28:250:28:27

is one of the oldest boats in the fleet.

0:28:270:28:29

She steams through the night towards the island of Eigg.

0:28:320:28:35

At first light,

0:28:360:28:38

the crew are summoned on deck by experienced skipper Bill Simmonds.

0:28:380:28:42

There's many different ways we can set up these dredges

0:28:480:28:51

for different styles of fishing, different types of ground.

0:28:510:28:54

There's a tension in the spring, you can slacken this off,

0:28:540:28:57

tighten it up, put tension on, take tension off it.

0:28:570:29:00

This drags along the bottom. And this works backwards and forwards...

0:29:000:29:06

It should filter a lot of stones out of the way,

0:29:070:29:11

so we leave the stones on the seabed,

0:29:110:29:15

or as much as we can.

0:29:150:29:17

-What about the clams?

-And the clams...

0:29:170:29:20

The clams should just flick into the bag.

0:29:210:29:25

They should just be flicked up into here, then down into the back of it.

0:29:250:29:30

It's not just creelers and trawlers that come into conflict over prawns.

0:29:350:29:40

Scallop dredgers can also have an impact.

0:29:400:29:42

Both prawns and scallops live on the seabed,

0:29:430:29:46

albeit on slightly different ground.

0:29:460:29:48

Even as far out as the Small Isles, where Bill is today,

0:29:490:29:52

there's the potential for trouble.

0:29:520:29:54

Mobile gear is... in direct conflict with static gear.

0:29:560:30:00

There's a lot of...

0:30:000:30:03

creels being towed away and there's a lot of people not happy about it.

0:30:030:30:07

Albeit, some of us get on very, very well.

0:30:090:30:14

We can cooperate with each other.

0:30:140:30:15

Bill has decades of experience in these waters,

0:30:190:30:22

but there's always new fishing grounds to explore.

0:30:220:30:26

I'm just marking out some ground,

0:30:260:30:29

this is the first time I've ever shot here.

0:30:290:30:32

I'm going to take a gamble and try it.

0:30:320:30:35

If I'm not catching, the crew aren't getting paid.

0:30:370:30:40

Eight at the winch, seven in the water.

0:30:430:30:46

Eight at the winch, seven in the water is the offset for the gear,

0:30:490:30:53

the two sets of gear.

0:30:530:30:54

We'll have...

0:30:540:30:56

80 fathom of wire...

0:30:560:30:58

At one point and seven... 75 at the other.

0:31:030:31:07

We always work a 5-fathom difference in the gear.

0:31:090:31:13

If not, it jumps on top of itself.

0:31:160:31:20

If we don't watch what we're doing,

0:31:200:31:22

the gear will hit the propeller and bend the blades. So I rely...

0:31:220:31:27

I rely on my crew being vigilant...

0:31:290:31:33

and keeping the gear away from the propeller.

0:31:330:31:35

This industrial method of fishing for scallops is often

0:31:420:31:45

criticised as unsustainable and detrimental to the seabed.

0:31:450:31:49

This footage of a working dredge was filmed more than ten years ago

0:31:540:31:58

by researchers at Plymouth University.

0:31:580:32:01

It's not the Vikingborg's dredge.

0:32:010:32:03

Dredging is a controversial method of fishing and for that reason,

0:32:070:32:11

some restaurants won't serve scallops caught in this way.

0:32:110:32:15

They will only buy scallops that have been hand-picked by divers.

0:32:160:32:21

Back on the Vikingborg, Bill evaluates

0:32:270:32:29

the catch from the newly-dredged stretch.

0:32:290:32:32

Well, it's mediocre. No, it's...

0:32:340:32:36

It's not something I want to concentrate on.

0:32:370:32:40

So you can see our by-catch is minimal,

0:32:420:32:45

there's just two or three starfish.

0:32:450:32:48

The rest are stones, some clams...

0:32:480:32:50

You know, we're really not doing that much damage to the seabed.

0:32:520:32:57

As some people might make out.

0:32:590:33:01

Anyway.

0:33:040:33:05

My father and mother are scallop divers.

0:33:080:33:11

We do have that joking love/hate about us,

0:33:110:33:15

you know - they don't favour scallop dredgers because...

0:33:150:33:21

..we take away their clams, but we do try and give them the space.

0:33:220:33:26

As well as sharing the seabed,

0:33:260:33:29

Bill feels he puts a lot into the local economy.

0:33:290:33:32

I maybe spend 30,000 a year on fuel,

0:33:330:33:36

10-15,000 on food.

0:33:360:33:39

I'm constantly repairing this vessel.

0:33:390:33:42

Last year, I put the new engine and gearbox into it.

0:33:420:33:45

That was 40,000 it cost me.

0:33:450:33:47

This year, I'm putting a hydraulic crane onto it,

0:33:480:33:50

that's another 15,000.

0:33:500:33:52

My winch there was 20,000.

0:33:520:33:56

This is all money that's going back into the economy.

0:33:560:33:59

Into the local businesses, you know?

0:33:590:34:02

So we do a lot.

0:34:020:34:04

I feel I do, anyway.

0:34:050:34:07

A week later, and the misty waters south of the Misty Isle are busy.

0:34:200:34:26

The Rebecca Jeneen is an inshore trawler,

0:34:280:34:31

built specifically for these waters.

0:34:310:34:34

But at over 50 metres long, there are places she's not allowed to go.

0:34:340:34:39

She's too big to fish the Inner Sound, east of Skye,

0:34:390:34:42

so mainly trawls to the South and the West.

0:34:420:34:47

She does this with what's known as a twin rig.

0:34:470:34:49

The twin rig is basically a two-net system.

0:34:540:34:57

We've got two smaller nets, so you tend to take less fish

0:34:570:35:00

the way they're rigged and more prawns than you will with one net.

0:35:000:35:04

As the nets are shot, they sink to the seabed where

0:35:060:35:09

they are towed for four hours along soft, muddy ground -

0:35:090:35:13

the favoured habitat of langoustine.

0:35:130:35:16

But wherever he's trawling, Robert has to be vigilant for creels.

0:35:180:35:22

Not easy, as the only signs are the small buoys at either end.

0:35:220:35:27

It's not as bad as it was.

0:35:270:35:29

For a few years, it was really bad, a lot of creelers.

0:35:290:35:31

There was that much creels in the ground about here, they were

0:35:310:35:35

fighting with each other for the ground, never mind the trawlers.

0:35:350:35:39

You get creelers, they know how to keep their gear out of my way.

0:35:390:35:42

I know how to keep out of their way. We work the same areas all the time.

0:35:420:35:46

I know where to expect to see creels,

0:35:460:35:48

I know where I expect to not see creels, but you get creelers

0:35:480:35:51

that are just shooting them in the wrong place, trying to close off

0:35:510:35:53

the area to get it to themselves,

0:35:530:35:56

which causes a huge rift.

0:35:560:35:58

Now, we stop fishing as soon as we catch creel,

0:35:580:36:00

so we're losing money as soon as we catch creels.

0:36:000:36:03

I could lose two or three hours' fishing time, which is

0:36:030:36:05

hundreds of pounds to me and my crew.

0:36:050:36:07

If we catch creels, we'll haul them up, I won't spend two or three

0:36:070:36:10

hours clearing them - it's too much of a cost to me.

0:36:100:36:12

I'll cut that creel away.

0:36:120:36:14

If I'm at fault, I would pay for them, but how you define fault,

0:36:140:36:17

if a creeler has shot creels in my way intentionally to stop me

0:36:170:36:21

working, then I will not pay anything for them.

0:36:210:36:24

This is breakfast.

0:36:390:36:41

At lunchtime!

0:36:420:36:44

Cos the crew needed their sleep.

0:36:450:36:48

Working time directive aboard here...

0:36:480:36:52

They have to sleep 14 hours a day.

0:36:520:36:53

I'd better not say on TV that this is women's work,

0:36:560:36:58

my wife wouldn't take that very well!

0:36:580:37:01

Robert's good mood doesn't last long.

0:37:030:37:06

Oh, dear.

0:37:070:37:09

It snapped. We'll have to haul arse for ten to get there,

0:37:110:37:14

to get to the middle.

0:37:140:37:16

75 fathom with the middle wire lying on the bottom.

0:37:160:37:19

The gear has just snagged

0:37:220:37:23

and snapped the middle of three hauling cables.

0:37:230:37:27

What is that?

0:37:270:37:28

Broken.

0:37:280:37:30

-Snapped.

-It's quite a weight on there, then.

0:37:320:37:35

That wire was getting dumped.

0:37:400:37:41

We knew it was getting worn,

0:37:410:37:43

but we thought it would last no bother for another day.

0:37:430:37:46

Whoa! If it's not going to get hit, take it up.

0:37:480:37:52

It's all right, hold on - I'll get it.

0:37:520:37:54

That's dug in. That's destroyed it.

0:37:560:37:58

With only two cables, Robert has to use the boat's winch to help bring

0:38:000:38:04

in the gear, including the roller clamp and sensor, worth £13,000.

0:38:040:38:11

Some turn, eh?

0:38:110:38:12

Come on, Gilbert,

0:38:160:38:18

you're not even trying - it's only three quarters of a tonne!

0:38:180:38:21

Where's the sensor?

0:38:220:38:24

Is the sensor on the outside?

0:38:240:38:26

With the sensor safely on-board,

0:38:360:38:38

Robert's crew continue recovering the gear.

0:38:380:38:41

15 April, back in the Inner Sound.

0:38:470:38:50

The sea may be calm, but just two weeks into the trawling season,

0:38:520:38:55

tensions are rising.

0:38:550:38:58

So the fleet that got towed is that white buoy and that yellow buoy,

0:39:020:39:07

but it used to be that the white buoy was 100 yards this way

0:39:070:39:11

and the yellow buoy was 500 yards to the north again.

0:39:110:39:15

So the fleet has been dragged,

0:39:150:39:17

you know, half a kilometre.

0:39:170:39:19

It's a creeler's worst nightmare -

0:39:190:39:22

Bally has discovered that one of his fleets has been towed.

0:39:220:39:26

We know that there's a good chance that we've lost the shot,

0:39:280:39:31

which over time accumulates

0:39:310:39:34

and we're going to lose the time that we have to spend recovering this fleet

0:39:340:39:38

and if the rope is too badly damaged,

0:39:380:39:40

I'll have to replace the rope,

0:39:400:39:42

so it's already cost us... Possibly hundreds of pounds.

0:39:420:39:45

If there's too many creels gone, then it's potentially thousands of pounds.

0:39:450:39:49

We'll find out in a minute how that pans out.

0:39:490:39:53

Just watch out for slack rope coming off this, because it's quite shallow.

0:40:000:40:05

If we're unlucky, then we only get part of the fleet back.

0:40:130:40:17

It depends - I don't know how many pieces it's in.

0:40:170:40:21

Here we go...

0:40:210:40:22

Something happening now.

0:40:220:40:24

See, that's a physically ruined creel.

0:40:260:40:29

It's never going to catch prawns again, that one.

0:40:300:40:32

Sometimes accidents happen and normally it's in bad weather

0:40:360:40:42

when visibility is poor.

0:40:420:40:44

Then it's hard to blame the trawler,

0:40:450:40:48

but this happened in good visibility to a boat that had been fishing

0:40:480:40:51

next to the gear for several days, so he knew fine well the gear was here.

0:40:510:40:55

And, er...

0:40:550:40:57

Sometimes it happens when they're pushing their luck

0:40:570:41:00

and they want to fish where you're fishing,

0:41:000:41:02

but this time, the boy I spoke to on the radio said to me

0:41:020:41:05

that they've dragged it out of the way because it was in their way.

0:41:050:41:08

What that means is they wanted to fish where I was fishing,

0:41:080:41:11

so they just chose to drag my gear out the way

0:41:110:41:14

and they openly admitted it.

0:41:140:41:16

There's no recourse for this sort of thing.

0:41:160:41:19

There's never been a conviction for gear conflict or gear vandalism

0:41:190:41:23

in 30 years, since the 3-mile limit was opened.

0:41:230:41:26

So....You know, they can tow my gear with impunity.

0:41:260:41:30

The only thing stopping them towing my gear is...

0:41:300:41:33

..is fear that we might do something personally about it,

0:41:370:41:39

but there's certainly nothing we can do about it in the law.

0:41:390:41:42

I mean, obviously if he hadn't handed them back to me,

0:41:420:41:46

I'd have requested he compensate me,

0:41:460:41:49

which he's under no obligation to do.

0:41:490:41:52

But he might have got a broken nose had he said no.

0:41:520:41:55

We're doing pretty well so far, though.

0:41:570:41:59

That's nearly half the fleet up.

0:42:010:42:03

Losing a day's work and over £1,000 worth of fishing gear is

0:42:040:42:08

becoming all too common for Bally.

0:42:080:42:10

It's a source of huge frustration.

0:42:100:42:13

I think if you were starting from scratch and there was no

0:42:130:42:15

fishing vessels, no fishing fleet, no people to get made unemployed,

0:42:150:42:19

you would never do it the way it's done now.

0:42:190:42:21

You would have small,

0:42:210:42:23

locally-owned fleets working out of communities that had rights to

0:42:230:42:27

certain areas of the seabed and they'd be responsible

0:42:270:42:29

for managing that and they would be answerable

0:42:290:42:32

to their local communities who could find other ways to harvest

0:42:320:42:35

that resource if the fishermen didn't manage it properly.

0:42:350:42:39

But as it stands,

0:42:390:42:41

we've inherited a system that was once based on a free-for-all.

0:42:410:42:45

We've inherited a system which has traditionally been very badly managed by governments,

0:42:450:42:49

where governments have allowed over exploitation to take place...

0:42:490:42:53

And we've inherited a system where when we go to try and fix it,

0:42:550:42:58

they put people out of work from very small, fragile communities.

0:42:580:43:02

Nobody wants to do that.

0:43:020:43:04

I think there are solutions, but they're not easy,

0:43:060:43:09

it's not straightforward, it's never as simple as people first assume.

0:43:090:43:13

But there is a place where a solution may have been found.

0:43:130:43:17

Just under 300 miles north-east,

0:43:210:43:24

Shetland fishermen have taken control of their own destiny.

0:43:240:43:29

Shetland's inshore fishermen have been given devolved powers

0:43:290:43:32

by the Scottish government to manage and police

0:43:320:43:35

their own waters and I've come here to see how it works.

0:43:350:43:39

In the 1990s, the inshore waters around Shetland had little

0:43:410:43:46

management, with no quotas, no restrictions

0:43:460:43:48

on types of fishing gear and no limit on days at sea.

0:43:480:43:52

-The harbour looks pretty busy - is this normal?

-Yes, that's right.

0:43:540:43:58

There's always boats in and some of them at sea, as well.

0:43:580:44:02

Ian Walterson,

0:44:020:44:04

chairman of the Shetland Shellfish Management organisation,

0:44:040:44:07

explains the catalyst for change.

0:44:070:44:10

Well, the fishermen themselves recognised with an ever-increasing

0:44:100:44:15

fleet of large shellfish vessels,

0:44:150:44:17

especially in other areas of the UK, with large scallopers

0:44:170:44:22

and large crabbers being built almost every week, there was

0:44:220:44:27

recognition that those big vessels had potential to move

0:44:270:44:32

further from their home ports, home grounds

0:44:320:44:35

and come up to places like Shetland and if that happened, there was

0:44:350:44:39

certainly a risk of stocks being overexploited.

0:44:390:44:43

So what did you actually do?

0:44:430:44:44

People decided to apply for a regulating order to give

0:44:440:44:48

Shetland control of its own shellfish stocks

0:44:480:44:52

from shoreline up to six miles.

0:44:520:44:53

And do you think something like this,

0:44:530:44:55

that seems to be working here and working well in Shetland,

0:44:550:44:58

is something that could and potentially SHOULD be rolled out around the rest of the country?

0:44:580:45:02

It probably works better here because Shetland is geographically isolated.

0:45:020:45:06

Other areas, where they have one area neighbouring with the next,

0:45:060:45:11

it could be more problematic, I suppose.

0:45:110:45:14

But, yes, I think it is a very good example of local

0:45:140:45:17

management of a fishery and this has potential for other areas, certainly.

0:45:170:45:23

I'm on my way from Lerwick to Collafirth on the north-west coast

0:45:260:45:30

to spend the day with skipper Richard Grains of the Valentia.

0:45:300:45:35

-Hi, Richard - how you doing?

-Not too bad.

-Good stuff.

0:45:380:45:40

-Can I come on board?

-Yes, welcome aboard.

0:45:400:45:44

Nice to see you.

0:45:440:45:45

'Richard operates the Valentia on his own.

0:45:450:45:47

'It's a small 9½m boat,

0:45:470:45:50

'but ideal for his type of fishing.'

0:45:500:45:53

This is very impressive, this - is this all for single operation?

0:45:530:45:56

-Yeah!

-It's brilliant.

0:45:560:45:58

Richard is a creel fishermen, targeting crabs and lobsters.

0:46:040:46:08

Prawns are not as common here as on the West Coast.

0:46:080:46:12

Today, we're hauling on the fringes of the north Atlantic.

0:46:120:46:17

So how much are you selling a box of crabs?

0:46:170:46:19

Like that, if that was full, how much would you sell that for?

0:46:190:46:22

Hopefully get about £40 for it.

0:46:220:46:24

The fact these waters are managed here in Shetland,

0:46:240:46:27

what does that mean in terms of what you can actually catch?

0:46:270:46:29

The creel numbers,

0:46:290:46:30

you're only allowed the maximum number of 600 creels.

0:46:300:46:34

It just kind of restricts you getting too big...

0:46:340:46:38

Um...

0:46:380:46:40

As I said before, you can only work 600 creels,

0:46:400:46:44

um...that are bought.

0:46:440:46:47

That's only really enough to sustain one man, maybe two.

0:46:470:46:52

How difficult is it to get a licence and to keep it?

0:46:530:46:56

It's quite a difficult thing to get, yes.

0:46:560:46:59

There are stock assessments every year and if they're low,

0:46:590:47:02

or not as good as they were the previous year, they reconsider

0:47:020:47:07

maybe dishing out licenses,

0:47:070:47:10

but it's quite hard to get into, yes.

0:47:100:47:12

Some of the older guys,

0:47:150:47:16

have they said that the management of these waters has improved stocks?

0:47:160:47:20

In the past few years, it's been

0:47:200:47:22

exceptionally good lobster fishing.

0:47:220:47:25

Sometimes, when you're speaking to any older guys,

0:47:250:47:28

and you tell them what they're hiding,

0:47:280:47:30

they think that it's pretty good.

0:47:300:47:32

They reckon it's far more to do with the hiding...

0:47:320:47:35

-Is that right?

-Sometimes they say that, yes.

-Sure.

0:47:350:47:38

Okey dokey...

0:47:470:47:51

-Got it.

-Cheers, man. Thank you.

0:47:510:47:53

The system seems to be working well in Shetland,

0:47:530:47:56

but back on the West Coast, there's trouble for Bill.

0:47:560:47:59

There's something wrong.

0:48:030:48:05

The wire may have snapped, I don't know.

0:48:060:48:09

It's 21 April.

0:48:090:48:11

The scallop dredger Vikingborg is just off the Isle of Muck.

0:48:110:48:14

Aye, it has, it's snapped.

0:48:160:48:18

Take this slow, I might need to mark this.

0:48:190:48:23

Just take it slowly.

0:48:230:48:25

Part of the wire.

0:48:320:48:33

-Has it become snagged?

-The gear has snagged.

0:48:350:48:37

I told you that bit of ground belonged to Satan.

0:48:370:48:40

One minute, we're doing quite well...

0:48:420:48:45

Now my fishing gear is lying in the bottom,

0:48:450:48:47

I don't know if I'm going to get it back now.

0:48:470:48:49

It sucks, it's going to be a challenge, this.

0:48:510:48:54

So I'm going to put out a creeper and we're going to try

0:48:570:49:00

and get my gear back, because...

0:49:000:49:02

A lot of money's worth lying down there. It's a big loss to me if I don't get it back.

0:49:040:49:07

With £5,000 of gear sitting on the seabed,

0:49:080:49:12

Bill needs to hook it with the creeper.

0:49:120:49:15

These hooks should snag any loose bit of gear that's down there.

0:49:150:49:19

All these spikes... will hopefully hook it in.

0:49:200:49:24

There's plenty down there in the gear for this to snag on, but...

0:49:240:49:29

I've just got to get on the gear, you know?

0:49:290:49:31

Let's just hope it's not too embedded.

0:49:330:49:36

If it's impaled into the ground, I'm going to struggle to get it back out, you know?

0:49:360:49:39

Loss of fishing time, loss of earnings, loss of fishing gear.

0:49:440:49:48

Let's just see how good I am.

0:49:540:49:56

We've got it.

0:50:090:50:10

Here she comes.

0:50:130:50:15

Oh, look at that, eh?

0:50:150:50:18

Look at that... Whoa!

0:50:180:50:20

That's not bad.

0:50:230:50:25

I couldn't catch that any better.

0:50:250:50:27

That's what 25 years' worth of experience does for you.

0:50:280:50:32

Am I good, or am I good?!

0:50:320:50:34

Not only do I catch it first time, I catch it the right way up!

0:50:340:50:38

They'll see they've been caught and just run away.

0:50:510:50:53

Maybe.

0:50:530:50:54

There's too much stuff in the bottom already.

0:50:540:50:57

It's a shame it's not so clear.

0:50:570:50:59

Back in Kyleakin, Bally is passing on his experience to Lachlan,

0:50:590:51:03

his 10-year-old son.

0:51:030:51:04

Bet you'll catch one.

0:51:050:51:07

If I catch one, I'll be catching more than you!

0:51:070:51:09

Yes!

0:51:090:51:11

And if you catch three, it's a free ice cream

0:51:110:51:13

and if you catch four, you've got my job!

0:51:130:51:16

It's a good offer, but Lachlan is sceptical.

0:51:180:51:21

If I get the chance to be a rocket scientist, I'm going

0:51:210:51:24

to be a rocket scientist, not a fisherman!

0:51:240:51:26

But otherwise, if I can't find anything else,

0:51:260:51:30

I'm just going to be a fisherman.

0:51:300:51:32

Yes, I didn't really spend any time at sea when I was young,

0:51:320:51:35

so with mine, I'm hoping by the time he leaves school,

0:51:350:51:37

he's got a pretty good idea what the job is all about.

0:51:370:51:40

Quick, get him in! Yes!

0:51:400:51:43

-Whoo-hoo!

-Off he goes.

0:51:430:51:45

-He's running away!

-Be quick, whatever you do. That's it. You've got him.

0:51:460:51:50

Well done.

0:51:500:51:51

A lot of kids around here

0:51:510:51:52

don't have anything to do when they leave school,

0:51:520:51:55

there's very few sources of employment in the Highlands.

0:51:550:51:59

So, er... yeah, for the few jobs that they can do,

0:51:590:52:02

it helps if they've got a bit of background, a bit of experience.

0:52:020:52:05

-One more for that ice cream, son. Have you given up?

-No.

-All right.

0:52:050:52:09

-When was the last time you checked that line?

-Er, a few minutes ago.

0:52:120:52:16

30 years and I'm still the YTS in the camp!

0:52:220:52:24

Over in Mallaig, it's back to basics for Robert.

0:52:260:52:29

He's torn his nets and now has to fix them.

0:52:290:52:31

The perils of getting your net stuck in the ground means you lose

0:52:330:52:36

fishing time.

0:52:360:52:37

Hundreds of pounds lost in the town,

0:52:390:52:41

a thousand pound for the net...

0:52:410:52:43

It's just risk and reward - take the risk

0:52:440:52:46

and you either get the reward or you don't.

0:52:460:52:49

Sometimes this is what happens, this is part of life.

0:52:490:52:52

But, as it's a Friday, Robert has given his crew some downtime.

0:52:540:52:58

I says to him, "I'll get you a bottle of whiskey!"

0:52:580:53:02

They spend the afternoon relaxing in the pub.

0:53:040:53:08

But...

0:53:080:53:09

there is much more than a game of pool at stake for the crew

0:53:090:53:12

of the Rebecca Jeneen.

0:53:120:53:14

Their very existence could be under threat.

0:53:160:53:19

There is a radical proposal to stop Robert fishing

0:53:220:53:25

anywhere near the coast.

0:53:250:53:28

A report prepared for the Scottish government has recommended

0:53:280:53:31

the reinstatement of the ban on trawling within three miles of land.

0:53:310:53:35

This ban was lifted in the mid-1980s.

0:53:400:53:43

It's just a proposal, but it's got trawlermen extremely worried.

0:53:450:53:50

I've been a fisherman for 30 years.

0:53:500:53:53

I've never seen fishing here, I've never had it explained to me

0:53:530:53:57

why we would need to bring the 1 to 3 mile rule,

0:53:570:54:01

which is to allow fish to return to the grounds.

0:54:010:54:04

We're doing everything we can to stop catching fish.

0:54:040:54:07

Anyone can see... Anybody who comes aboard the boat can see

0:54:070:54:10

that we don't catch any fish, we've never got any fish in here.

0:54:100:54:13

I've been told it's to help the creelers. Well...

0:54:130:54:16

I do understand why the creelers need help, but the creelers

0:54:160:54:20

are the only unregulated fishery left in Scotland.

0:54:200:54:23

I've got days at sea,

0:54:230:54:25

I've got a monitoring system that I have to pay for,

0:54:250:54:28

I've got square mesh panels fitted in,

0:54:280:54:31

I'm only allowed to go to sea so many days,

0:54:310:54:34

I've got a quota that I've had to buy to enable me to catch.

0:54:340:54:38

The creelers are totally unregulated,

0:54:380:54:40

they work a tiny mesh in their creels.

0:54:400:54:43

They can go to sea 24/7, they can work as much gear as they want,

0:54:430:54:47

they can work anywhere they want...

0:54:470:54:49

So they'd be shutting down a whole way of life from an inshore sector

0:54:500:54:54

to benefit who? I don't know, so...

0:54:540:54:57

It enrages me that somebody is wanting to stop me.

0:54:580:55:00

I bought this boat specifically to work in this area.

0:55:000:55:03

This is a £1 million investment to me and my family

0:55:030:55:06

and I would love for somebody to give me

0:55:060:55:09

a valid reason why I should stop working here.

0:55:090:55:11

It's not just prawn trawlers that would be banned from inshore waters.

0:55:130:55:17

That would end my fishing career.

0:55:210:55:24

Period.

0:55:250:55:26

I'll be finished as a fisherman if they bring in a 1 to 3 mile limit.

0:55:260:55:30

No doubt about that.

0:55:300:55:31

On this style of dredger that we do,

0:55:340:55:37

we rely on being close to shorelines,

0:55:370:55:39

close to islands for shelter,

0:55:390:55:41

to get away from the swell and the poor weather.

0:55:410:55:44

If you take that away from me, it's going to put me in harm's way

0:55:440:55:47

and put me further out.

0:55:470:55:48

And jeopardise me, my boat and my crew and I don't want to do that.

0:55:500:55:53

I've never had to do it, I don't want to do it,

0:55:550:55:57

it's just an unsafe, hazardous environment.

0:55:570:56:01

In unprotected waters.

0:56:030:56:05

The campaign to have the three-mile limit reinstated is being led,

0:56:080:56:12

not surprisingly, by the creel fishermen, who have most to gain.

0:56:120:56:16

Bally is one of the most vocal campaigners.

0:56:180:56:21

You weren't allowed to drag gear across the seabed

0:56:230:56:25

within three miles of land over 100 years ago.

0:56:250:56:28

That persisted for nearly 100 years until nearly 1984,

0:56:280:56:31

when shockingly, the government of the time

0:56:310:56:35

removed the three-mile limit.

0:56:350:56:37

Since the three-mile limit was removed,

0:56:380:56:40

almost every single commercial species of fish within three miles

0:56:400:56:44

of land has been brought to what you would call commercial extinction.

0:56:440:56:47

Certainly, nobody in the creel industry wants to put

0:56:470:56:50

anybody in the trawler industry out of work.

0:56:500:56:52

It would be interesting if we could find a way that

0:56:520:56:54

everybody could be accommodated, but the reality is that what we're

0:56:540:56:58

doing now is unsustainable and we have to figure out how to

0:56:580:57:01

get from where we are now to something that is sustainable.

0:57:010:57:04

We have to find a way of getting there that puts the least

0:57:040:57:07

amount of people out of work, that facilitates the transition period.

0:57:070:57:11

The Scottish government says the recent report and the

0:57:160:57:19

reintroduction of a three-mile limit has been carefully considered.

0:57:190:57:24

However, they currently have no plans to reintroduce

0:57:240:57:28

a blanket restriction on the use of mobile fishing gear around Scotland.

0:57:280:57:32

On a day like today, it's hard to imagine that these

0:57:360:57:39

waters could be so turbulent, both literally and metaphorically.

0:57:390:57:43

I used to have a fairly simplistic view that small was good

0:57:430:57:46

and big was bad, but now I can see it's a much more complex picture

0:57:460:57:50

and I really don't envy those that have to make decisions

0:57:500:57:53

about the future of this industry that has survived for centuries.

0:57:530:57:57

Since we filmed, Bill has not had the best of times.

0:57:590:58:02

Catches are down and so is his income.

0:58:020:58:05

Robert is enjoying a boom, but the abundance of prawns has

0:58:070:58:10

attracted trawlers from all over the country.

0:58:100:58:13

And last month, Bally had another fleet of 30 creels towed away.

0:58:150:58:20

He didn't get any of them back.

0:58:200:58:22

But he's now hauling lots of prawns and making decent money again.

0:58:220:58:27

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