0:00:02 > 0:00:05For hundreds of years, small fishing boats have set sail
0:00:05 > 0:00:09to bring home the riches of our coastal waters.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13He's got one! He's caught a monkfish! Yes.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15But fishing has changed.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Deep-sea trawlers now catch most of the fish we eat.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25Stocks are in decline, and fishermen are getting a bad name.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31Hour after hour, day after day, I've lowered fish through that hatch.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36Can that level of fishing be sustained long term into the future?
0:00:36 > 0:00:41Rising costs and stringent regulations have left our fishermen in crisis.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44Can they survive the threats to their future?
0:00:44 > 0:00:47None of us really know what's around the corner.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Everything's up in the air. It's a worrying time.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Marine biologist Monty Halls is going to explore
0:00:55 > 0:00:59the challenges facing our fishing industry...but from the inside.
0:01:01 > 0:01:06Monty learns just why fishing is Britain's most dangerous job...
0:01:06 > 0:01:13- Closer to!- That's probably the closest I've come to a really serious incident
0:01:13 > 0:01:15in my whole time out fishing.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18He follows his catch from the sea to the plate,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22to find out how the fish business works onshore.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25Of course, all of this is money. You're just looking at money being burnt here.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31And he discovers how larger vessels are affecting our traditional fleet.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34You're not quite halfway yet. Another 600 to go.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Good grief! That's an outrage.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55It's early July in the far south of Cornwall.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59After successfully completing his apprenticeship,
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Monty has been fishing from Razorbill, working the rich waters off the Lizard Peninsula,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06as men have done since medieval times.
0:02:08 > 0:02:13He now knows just how hard it is to make ends meet as a small-boat fisherman.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19My overwhelming impression over the last few weeks
0:02:19 > 0:02:23working as a fisherman is graft. It is pure graft.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27And yet, the rewards for finding and catching an animal like that
0:02:27 > 0:02:31are pretty minimal, really. Most of the guys on that beach,
0:02:31 > 0:02:36and I'd venture that most of the guys in the inshore fishing industry in the UK,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38really struggle to makes ends meet.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43It is a proper, proper mission to actually make profit at the end of any month.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48Our small boats may be in trouble, but the UK fleet as a whole
0:02:48 > 0:02:52landed more than £700 million worth of fish last year.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55A lot of money is being made somewhere along the line.
0:02:55 > 0:03:01Monty wants to find out why inshore fishermen are having such a hard time.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06I think the economics at the moment are probably the most pressing issue
0:03:06 > 0:03:08facing the British fishing fleet,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11certainly for small boats working inshore,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14and so, for me, it's a priority over the next few weeks
0:03:14 > 0:03:17to actually have a look and figure out what those stresses are,
0:03:17 > 0:03:21and see if there's any remedy, cos if those stresses continue to be applied
0:03:21 > 0:03:24and increase in their pressure,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27then in 10, 20 years' time, we won't have an inshore fishing fleet,
0:03:27 > 0:03:28and that would be a tragedy, I think.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44For the past two months, Monty has been living and working in Cadgwith Cove,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48a traditional fishing village 20 miles east of Land's End.
0:03:49 > 0:03:55As well as fishing on his own, Monty is crewing with the other skippers in the cove.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58He's seeing the stress they're under first hand.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05John Trewin's crewman has taken some time off.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09Unable to find a replacement, John has been struggling to work the boat on his own.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13So, today, Monty has offered to help out.
0:04:13 > 0:04:18It's a big boat to run single handed. 30 pots in a string,
0:04:18 > 0:04:2410 strings. Just two of us. It's going to be hard graft today. It's going to be full on.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30Bait, Monty, quick as you can.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34- You're baiting two bits, two bits. - Two bits, yeah.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36At this time of year,
0:04:36 > 0:04:40John uses long strings of baited pots to catch brown crabs.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43This is fishing on a larger, faster scale than Monty is used to,
0:04:43 > 0:04:45and it's a struggle to keep up.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50Swivel, swivel, swivel out, that's it.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Closer to, bring it forward a little bit to you.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54That's it.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58You've got to get a cadence going, a pace going.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02- A cadence?!- A cadence. You know, when you train a rhythm... - A cadence?
0:05:02 > 0:05:06- I've never heard of that word, "cadence".- It's what I used to say.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Tell me what the word "cadence" means!
0:05:10 > 0:05:14Don't do too good a job, mind, or I'll be looking at your CV!
0:05:14 > 0:05:16Trust me, there'll be no danger of that.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18You can make Nige an offer.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23John is not the only one struggling to find replacement crew.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26The UK fishing industry is facing a recruitment crisis.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30These days, there are very few young people prepared to take on this kind of work.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37There's not many jobs out there, but people don't want to do this job.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39I don't blame them, mind.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42There's probably a lot better paid jobs for doing a lot less...
0:05:42 > 0:05:45I know it is. ..a lot less work.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Fishing's hard work. Young people, you know, 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds
0:05:48 > 0:05:52they don't want to go fishing. Longish hours, manual labour
0:05:52 > 0:05:54don't want to do it.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Can you blame them? No.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02'They're not queuing up like they used to be.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04'The wages aren't regular.'
0:06:04 > 0:06:06Trying to get a loan or anything like that,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09fishing is quite difficult.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Definitely difficult if you're trying to get a mortgage.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15The income's up and down. So up and down.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Where the youngsters are, younger fishermen to take over,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22I don't know. I don't see them.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25'The whole future of it is not good.'
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Beautiful.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33There are fewer and fewer young fishermen entering the industry.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36Unless youngsters are tempted back into fishing,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39it won't be long before there are only a handful of men
0:06:39 > 0:06:42prepared to work some of the best grounds in the world.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48- First pot, first pot. - Just straight in, yeah?
0:06:48 > 0:06:50Yeah, just keep your feet clear.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Wait there till this one's nearly gone
0:06:52 > 0:06:54and then just pick it up and pass it.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58Deploying the pots is the most dangerous stage of the operation.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03One wrong step and you could easily be dragged over the side.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Don't walk backwards, Mont.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08- Don't walk backwards? - No, always facing the rope.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13It's too much for an inexperienced crewman like Monty to take in.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18He's stacked the pots in the wrong order,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22and as one flies over the side, it pins him to the gunnels.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30- What happened then?- Don't know.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33- All right?- Yeah.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41When that pot hit me, there was nothing I could have done about it, absolutely nothing.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44If it had taken me over the side, there was no way I could have held on.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49Happened in a split second, and I would have been warm and dry one second, just working,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53and the next, I would have been under the water and being dragged down,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56so not a very pleasant moment at all.
0:08:00 > 0:08:06The price of crab is relatively low at the moment around £1.20 a kilogram.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09John needs to catch at least 200 kilograms a day
0:08:09 > 0:08:11roughly 220 crabs -
0:08:11 > 0:08:15to cover his costs and make a decent wage.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Let me see, we've done four strings and we've got ten to do today.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24It's going to be a proper physical challenge, that,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27and John does it every single day.
0:08:27 > 0:08:28Yeah... Whoa.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32More crab pots and more crab pots and more crab pots!
0:08:32 > 0:08:35Things are going well, and the pots are full of crabs.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38But then the engine starts overheating.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52ENGINE FAILS TO START
0:08:59 > 0:09:00Argh!
0:09:00 > 0:09:05I wasn't the happiest, to be honest. I was not the happiest.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07No, I wasn't the happiest at all.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Bloody nightmare.
0:09:09 > 0:09:15We sucked up a load of string weed into the raw-water system.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19I couldn't budge it. I was getting a bit stressed.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24This is the shit bit I hate about fishing. Bloody nightmare.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29The boat was beam onto to the sea, and I was down in the bilge
0:09:29 > 0:09:31and I was feeling a bit grim.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37Shame, cos it was going all right, but turned into a bit of a disaster.
0:09:44 > 0:09:45There we go.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Try that, then.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54Finally, John shifts the weed and fires up the engine.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56ENGINE RUNS
0:09:56 > 0:09:59Things could have been a lot worse,
0:09:59 > 0:10:01but there'll be no more fishing today.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06It's a bitter blow, this. We're coming to the end of the good time in the crab season,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09and to lose a day like today is crucial.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12You know, we've only fished for half a day, basically.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16It's going to be... John will have about broken even, maybe made a few bob,
0:10:16 > 0:10:20of potentially what could have been a really great day for him.
0:10:22 > 0:10:28The price of crab is pretty much what it was four years ago, but the cost of fuel and bait have doubled.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Margins are extremely tight,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35and days like today can easily push small-boat skippers into the red.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40You know, when we're sort of full swing crabbing,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44you wouldn't want to be ashore too long with too big a breakdown.
0:10:44 > 0:10:45I know they happen,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48but you want to try and alleviate them as best as possible
0:10:48 > 0:10:52because you can't afford to be sat here on the beach.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56They are businesses, these boats. They have to be businesses.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59They have to meet their costs.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02You can't exist as they used to.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05They are artisanal, small outfits,
0:11:05 > 0:11:10but they've got to turn a profit, even if it's a small one.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14The pressure on us...well, obviously you've got to pay your bills,
0:11:14 > 0:11:19and you've got to get out there and do it. When you go fishing, some days you don't catch anything.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22That's the way it is, but you've got to still go out there
0:11:22 > 0:11:26and you've got to go and have a go. You've still got to put bait in the pots,
0:11:26 > 0:11:28still got to go and do it, you've got to do it.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37It's Thursday evening,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41and the Cadgwith anglers head out for another fishing competition.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46But this time, the fish they catch will be sold to raise money for the Fishermen's Mission,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50a charity which supports fishermen and their families.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Organising the fundraiser is Sarah Stephens,
0:11:54 > 0:11:59whose husband fishes out of Newlyn, a nearby fishing port.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03- It's a really crucial organisation, isn't it?- It's really key...
0:12:03 > 0:12:07Without it, we would be in a lot of trouble, a lot of us.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10I mean, it's there for all sorts of things,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14like emotional support, but also crucial advice about everything.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Horrific things to deal with.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21The Fishermen's Mission was set up 130 years ago
0:12:21 > 0:12:24to support the relatives of men lost and injured at sea,
0:12:24 > 0:12:29but in recent years, it has got involved in welfare work,
0:12:29 > 0:12:34helping fishing families that have fallen on hard times.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39Got more mackerel coming in that's going to be filleted off when we've had all the weigh-in.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41OK, a bit of lemon...
0:12:41 > 0:12:46What's it like running a household? Because I imagine budgeting must be...
0:12:46 > 0:12:51Yeah, you've got to save up through the year. You've got everything coming, all your tax bills,
0:12:51 > 0:12:56and if you can't go fishing for three months, or not very effectively, yeah, it's going to make a dent,
0:12:56 > 0:13:00and it makes a dent and you've then got to play catch-up for the rest of the season,
0:13:00 > 0:13:06and if you don't, you've got bills to pay, a boat to maintain, which is your platform, your business,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09and you've got to get some money, and it's not going to do it itself.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13It's impossible to budget with fishing. You just do not know.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17And what a catch is worth one tide might be worth something totally different,
0:13:17 > 0:13:21- as you've probably found out from the fish prices yourself.- Yeah.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23I think the trouble is, with fuel prices going up,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27they have to push themselves to go fishing further and put themselves more at risk,
0:13:27 > 0:13:32because they've got to bring home the catch because the fuel and everything's costing so much...
0:13:32 > 0:13:34I mean, they have to pay a lot more.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39As well as financial insecurity, the wives of fishermen
0:13:39 > 0:13:43also have to cope with the threat of losing their husband at sea.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Fishing is by far the most dangerous job in the UK.
0:13:49 > 0:13:56You are 30 times more likely to die on a fishing boat than you are on a building site.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02Over the years, Cadgwith has suffered its share of losses.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04The most recent was in 1994,
0:14:04 > 0:14:06when a boat went down with both hands.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14I remember the day it happened.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19It was a...misty old muggy one.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Wasn't that windy, like. It was a misty old miserable, you know...
0:14:23 > 0:14:27Cornish mizzle. Real mizzly, drizzly old day, like,
0:14:27 > 0:14:29and then, Friday night, come down the pub,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33didn't think nothing of it, you know. Had the usual sing-a-long, whatever.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39Didn't hear nothing till the morning and then heard it on the radio.
0:14:42 > 0:14:49Sadly terrible things happen of which, in Cadgwith, we've had first-hand experience,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53and it's that thing that you keep at the back of the cupboard and you don't look at.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57You just can't go there, and then, when it does happen,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01it's the sum of all your fears made real.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Yeah...
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Yeah, devastating. Absolutely devastating,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13Yeah. I've got a job to...
0:15:15 > 0:15:17Brings back bad memories.
0:15:23 > 0:15:29Support the mission in every way you can, please! We've got some beer, we've got some lovely mackerel.
0:15:29 > 0:15:36Raffle over here, so please get some raffle tickets. Strawberries and cream. Wonderful things! OK?
0:15:36 > 0:15:38Brilliant turnout this evening.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54The Cadgwith boats are some of the smallest in the UK fleet.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00Such craft make up 75% of all British fishing vessels,
0:16:00 > 0:16:05but they only account for 6% of the seafood landed on our shores.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09The vast majority is caught by bigger boats.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14To find out what impact larger vessels might be having on the Cadgwith fleet,
0:16:14 > 0:16:19Monty has come to Mylor, a harbour 15 miles further up along the coast.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23The Harvester II is a purpose-built crabber
0:16:23 > 0:16:28and the biggest boat fishing the inshore waters off the Lizard Peninsula.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35You could fit Razorbill onto this deck five or six times, comfortably.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42Obviously, you can hear that great sort of throaty rumble of the engines as well, you know.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45This is fishing on a much, much larger scale.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00The Harvester reaches its fishing grounds six miles offshore from Cadgwith,
0:17:00 > 0:17:05and the crew haul their first pots of the day.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10In this string, there's about 80 pots.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14Now, Razorbill, in total, deploys 48 pots,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18so there's twice as many pots coming up in this string
0:17:18 > 0:17:23as I'll use in an entire day, or even three or four days, in Razorbill.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28The Harvester works as many as 1,800 pots,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32three times more than most of the Cadgwith crabbers.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38Getting through such a lot of gear requires an organised, experienced crew.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42For now, Monty is just going to watch and learn.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51You can see it's a really slick operation.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Everyone has a specific job, and you've got to work really quickly.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56You've got to get everything exactly right.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01The pots have got to be stacked exactly right, otherwise they won't deploy properly.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Every crab has to come out, every pot has to be baited, and it all has to be done at real speed.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09And bear in mind, your whole world is going like this all the time.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12You're constantly balancing and correcting all the time.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16Razorbill just wouldn't belong out here.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27There are even bigger boats working close by
0:18:27 > 0:18:30scallop-dredgers and foreign beam trawlers.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36In recent years, these large, powerful vessels
0:18:36 > 0:18:39have increased their fishing efforts right up to the six-mile limit -
0:18:39 > 0:18:44a zone which protects the UK's inshore waters for our smaller boats.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48A few years ago,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52skipper Henry Altenburgh could fish wherever he liked.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57But the influx of larger vessels to the area has forced him to change his tactics.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02One of the reasons for staying inside the six-mile limit,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05which is not what we used to do, is,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08we have big problems with the big scallopers
0:19:08 > 0:19:10and we have big problems with the French.
0:19:10 > 0:19:16And because the gear costs so much money these days,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19you cannot afford to lose it.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25The scallop-dredgers and trawlers fish by dragging their gear along the sea bed.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30They'll catch anything that stands in their way, including Henry's crab pots.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34A few years ago, a French trawler almost wiped him out.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40We went outside, not last year, but the year before,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44- and we lost 40 pots. Well... - That's a lot of money, isn't it?
0:19:44 > 0:19:49That's right, you're looking at £60-odd a pot to replace them.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52You cannot afford to do that very often.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56We had about four years or five years on the trot,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59we lost so much gear that I said to my son, I said,
0:19:59 > 0:20:04"If we have one more year like this, that is the end."
0:20:04 > 0:20:07The destruction that one rogue boat
0:20:07 > 0:20:12could cause in a night could be tens of thousands.
0:20:12 > 0:20:19- Yeah.- We've lost, over the years, well over six figures of kit.- Right.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23The increased threat of foreign trawlers and scallopers
0:20:23 > 0:20:27means the Harvester has to fish inside the six-mile limit.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29But this has had a knock-on effect -
0:20:29 > 0:20:33it now works the same grounds as the Cadgwith skippers,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36putting the smaller boats under increased pressure.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44It's time for Monty to get to work.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47James is going to talk me through how to stack the pots,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50because there's 80 pots here, so if you get it wrong
0:20:50 > 0:20:53and all 80 try and go over the stern at once...
0:20:53 > 0:20:56- It could be a big mess. - It could be messy.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01- Straight across. - Just in the corner there. That's it.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05- Just straight on top.- Yeah.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12- No, on top again. - Oh, on top, of course.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16And there again. No, up top.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18I was doing so well.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25That must be 80.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28You're not quite halfway yet.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45As the day goes on, the wind picks up until it's approaching force 6.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51None of the Cadgwith boats could be out in such big seas.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54Being able to work in all weathers is the key advantage
0:21:54 > 0:21:56bigger boats have over smaller ones.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02It's not long before the rough seas begin to take their toll on Monty.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06HE VOMITS
0:22:15 > 0:22:20A few weeks ago, Monty was incapacitated by seasickness.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24He's determined not to let that happen today.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30- So this one goes...? - Just against the side.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34Against the side. Thanks, mate.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41And that's it. Only another 600 to go!
0:22:41 > 0:22:43Oh, good grief! That's an outrage.
0:22:50 > 0:22:51- Ready?- I'm back.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57If I feel I'm going to go, I'll go that way.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01- We don't want you to get swept over the side.- No, me neither!
0:23:15 > 0:23:18HE VOMITS
0:23:30 > 0:23:34The sickness thing, it was a real Achilles' heel,
0:23:34 > 0:23:38and, in terms of my currency as a fisherman, it was a crippling blow.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41If you get sick out there, you can't be a fisherman.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47'But I think it's like anything, you've just got to keep going.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51'And Harvester was the first time I'd worked through the sickness,
0:23:51 > 0:23:57'so, you know, a red letter day in many, many ways, really. It was real redemption.'
0:23:57 > 0:23:58Eight to go!
0:23:58 > 0:24:00Eight!
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Despite the bouts of sickness, Monty helps stack the gear for the rest of the day.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17That's a whole string.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19You've done the lot.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23I wasn't going to say anything till you got to the end.
0:24:34 > 0:24:40James tots up the catch 25 bins, almost a tonne and a half of crab,
0:24:40 > 0:24:45more than double what a smaller boat would get, even on a good day.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48But there are even bigger boats out there than Harvester,
0:24:48 > 0:24:54landing even more crabs, keeping supply up and the price down.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56Monty and the other Cadgwith crabbers are small boats
0:24:56 > 0:24:58working in a mass market.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07So I can kind of understand why the price is slightly depressed
0:25:07 > 0:25:11on what I thought it would originally be looking at the smaller fleet.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14It starts to make a little bit more sense,
0:25:14 > 0:25:18but I still need to figure out why, in a restaurant,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21one of these is 16, 17 quid
0:25:21 > 0:25:27and why I'm getting £1.23 a kilo.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29There's still a massive discrepancy there.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36To find out why crab meat is so expensive to buy,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39Monty has travelled west along the coast to Newlyn.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43With more than 190 boats working out of the harbour,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46it's one of Britain's busiest fishing ports.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Many fishermen here target shellfish,
0:25:49 > 0:25:53and most, like Monty, sell their catch to this local merchant.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05This is Harveys and this is where the crab is picked and processed.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Now, it's very important, obviously, when it leaves -
0:26:08 > 0:26:12hygiene is crucial here - there's no bits of me in the crab that leave.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15So I've got the hairnet covering my glorious thick head of hair,
0:26:15 > 0:26:19I've got an outer layer, there'll be an apron on top of this, and wellies,
0:26:19 > 0:26:24and I need to go and scrub up like some surgeon before an operation, so here we go.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31Crabs are transported here live, killed,
0:26:31 > 0:26:35boiled and then shipped up to the picking room.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38A quarter of the weight of each animal is meat.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42But millions of years of evolution have ensured that crab flesh is well protected,
0:26:42 > 0:26:47and so some effort and skill is required to extricate it.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54You get to know the fault lines, don't you, in the shell?
0:26:54 > 0:26:56There's natural points of weakness.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04This is a family business,
0:27:04 > 0:27:08started by Matthew Harvey's great-grandfather almost 60 years ago,
0:27:08 > 0:27:13and it's built up close ties with the Cornish fishing fleet.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15What's your biggest overhead here?
0:27:15 > 0:27:20Biggest overhead after the actual cost of the shellfish itself
0:27:20 > 0:27:22is very closely followed by the labour,
0:27:22 > 0:27:28so it's probably 45 to 50 staff directly involved with turning crabs and spider crab
0:27:28 > 0:27:31into a product for sale.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34- That's a year-round operation.- Yeah.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39At the moment, the British don't eat much shellfish,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42and most crab meat goes to the Continent.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45But some travels even further afield.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50Some live crabs are being airfreighted over to Asia.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Now, there's an awful lot of cost involved in that again.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57That is amazing, isn't it? That it's caught off the Lizard
0:27:57 > 0:28:00and then it's on a flight to China.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13I think the wholesalers are in a difficult position
0:28:13 > 0:28:16because they have to respond to market forces.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21The market forces mean that there's a lot of crab on the market,
0:28:21 > 0:28:23it's expensive to process,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26so obviously when they buy it from the suppliers -
0:28:26 > 0:28:29and the suppliers are the fishermen -
0:28:29 > 0:28:32they can't pay huge amounts of money for it.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36But, of course, those incremental decreases in the price of crab
0:28:36 > 0:28:39have a devastating impact on a small-boat fisherman.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42He'll only catch a certain amount of crab,
0:28:42 > 0:28:46and if the price of that crab comes down, it's going to hit him really hard,
0:28:46 > 0:28:51particularly when he's skating along the edge of bankruptcy anyway.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54It's an interesting problem. I'm not quite sure what the solution is.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04Monty wants to see how another of the Cadgwith skippers,
0:29:04 > 0:29:09Louis Mitchell, is coping with the financial pressures facing the small boat fleet.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13This is Victoria Anne.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17This boat is only six inches longer than Razorbill
0:29:17 > 0:29:21and yet it's a different set-up. It's a stern shooter,
0:29:21 > 0:29:26it's designed to be run single-handed by Louis.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29The boat's compact and efficient, just like Louis.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31LOUIS LAUGHS
0:29:35 > 0:29:40Louis spent six months modifying the Victoria Anne before he took her to sea.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43Everything is perfectly laid out to ensure safety
0:29:43 > 0:29:46and maximise efficiency.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49Whereas most skippers buy their bait, Louis makes his himself,
0:29:49 > 0:29:55salting huge quantities of herring to make the perfect bait for his prey, lobsters.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58And unlike some of the other skippers in the cove,
0:29:58 > 0:30:01Louis works alone,
0:30:01 > 0:30:04so he never has to worry about finding or losing crew.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09It's a niche here, and that's it, it's being exploited,
0:30:09 > 0:30:10I'm exploiting it.
0:30:10 > 0:30:15What, as in the niche of the single-handed, smaller boat?
0:30:15 > 0:30:17Yeah, coastal fisherman.
0:30:17 > 0:30:23With a crew, you've got to go, because they've got to live, and so that's why you're doing it.
0:30:23 > 0:30:28I quite enjoy doing my own thing, not that I begrudge paying anybody!
0:30:32 > 0:30:36Louis has made a conscious decision to go for lobsters instead of crabs,
0:30:36 > 0:30:41targeting a niche, high-value species over one that is caught in bulk.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45He fishes in the rocky coves and inlets just past the Lizard Point.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49Bigger boats can't operate this close to the shore,
0:30:49 > 0:30:53so Louis has these waters pretty much to himself.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56Another beautiful lobster. Ow, that's just nailed me!
0:30:56 > 0:30:59Though he's been fishing for almost three decades,
0:30:59 > 0:31:02Louis has always been one of the first to embrace
0:31:02 > 0:31:05new technology such as electronic navigation.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09You see Louis is looking at the plotter there,
0:31:09 > 0:31:14he's identifying pinnacles, it's a completely different set-up,
0:31:14 > 0:31:16much more advanced than Razorbill.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20The Victoria Anne also has a device that creates a 3-D image
0:31:20 > 0:31:24of the seabed, so Louis can place his pots exactly where he wants them.
0:31:26 > 0:31:31- So this is actually demonstrating the contours of the seabed.- Yeah.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35I'm looking to put a string along a particular contour
0:31:35 > 0:31:40which is preferably where the ledge comes down and meets the bottom.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44- I'm trying to get it to go along the route of that contour.- Right.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46And that's hopefully where the lobster is.
0:31:46 > 0:31:52- you've got those kind of vertical surfaces...- Yeah.- Leading to the... - Leading to the horizontal surfaces.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54Yeah, and that's where the lobsters will forage.
0:31:54 > 0:31:59So in a perfect world, that bit of kit is getting you your strings
0:31:59 > 0:32:04- and pots sitting on that horizontal ledge in a perfect line. - That's right.
0:32:04 > 0:32:10- What we're going to do now, we're going to put this string through here.- Right.
0:32:10 > 0:32:12In-between that valley there.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15- Yeah, yeah, yeah.- Can you do that on Razorbill, can you?
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Totally confident, totally confident.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22Makes you wonder what the old fellas
0:32:22 > 0:32:25who sat on the stick 100 years ago would make of all this.
0:32:25 > 0:32:30If Grandpa would come back now, he'd be shaking his head.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37By using technology and running his operation
0:32:37 > 0:32:39with almost military efficiency,
0:32:39 > 0:32:44Louis has been able to reduce his number of pots, yet still catch the same amount of lobsters.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50But falling demand for such a luxury seafood has reduced
0:32:50 > 0:32:53the price of lobster, and despite all his efficiencies,
0:32:53 > 0:32:57Louis still struggles to make a profit.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02You've got to look for ways of increasing our incomes.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05Of course. And it's all about margins, isn't it?
0:33:05 > 0:33:09It is about margins because the squeeze is on with fuel,
0:33:09 > 0:33:12bait, you're taking a cut in wages.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19I suppose we're in world recession and it all is running
0:33:19 > 0:33:23back down the line again. It's like farming and milking, you know,
0:33:23 > 0:33:26'the pressures are put back on the bloke who's on the bottom.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29'We've got to try and get round that somehow.'
0:33:31 > 0:33:36It's a tricky time, and it's going to be for a few more years yet.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41Louis is at the top of his game. He's a fisherman who fishes
0:33:41 > 0:33:45so efficiently and cost effectively
0:33:45 > 0:33:50and yet he's struggling to make ends meet and if Louis can't do it,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53you know, then there is a really big problem here and I think
0:33:53 > 0:33:57it would be interesting to explore what other means there are
0:33:57 > 0:34:00of the fishermen actually making money, trying to make a living
0:34:00 > 0:34:05because plainly at the moment, this model, they're really struggling with it.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14Marine conservationists maintain that a major selling point of our inshore boats
0:34:14 > 0:34:19is that they are more environmentally-friendly than bigger vessels.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23They work small amounts of gear and only go to sea when the weather allows them,
0:34:23 > 0:34:26reducing pressure on fish populations.
0:34:26 > 0:34:32They travel short distances, burning less fuel than larger boats.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35The nets and pots they deploy are known as static gear
0:34:35 > 0:34:40they are not dragged over the seabed like a scallop dredge or a beam trawl.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50We're not all trawling. We're static gear fishermen. That's what we are.
0:34:50 > 0:34:55A lot of people don't know the difference. The general public doesn't know the difference.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06Static gear inflicts minimal damage to the seabed.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09And much of what is caught is still alive
0:35:09 > 0:35:13and can be returned to the sea if undersized or unmarketable.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16Right, young lady, good luck.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20We're sifting out all the juvenile crabs, all the white ones,
0:35:20 > 0:35:24what goes in the bin is top-quality crab for somebody to pick, you know.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27You're replacing the stock all the time,
0:35:27 > 0:35:31you're only taking out a certain percentage of the stock.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34Everybody's doing the same, it's really good,
0:35:34 > 0:35:37really sustainable fishery.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40Small boat skippers also look after the future of the industry.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44A few years ago, they decided voluntarily to start marking
0:35:44 > 0:35:47the tails of egg-carrying female lobsters.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51It is now illegal to land such animals
0:35:51 > 0:35:55until the notch has grown out and the lobsters have been given a few years to breed.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59Monty has been targeting lobsters closer to the shore.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03And he's starting to have some success.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06Every now and then you get what are called berried hens
0:36:06 > 0:36:10and that's essentially a female lobster with eggs. There's 20,000 eggs there
0:36:10 > 0:36:13and the female will carry them around for nine months.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16And the survival rate is about one in 20,000, basically.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19One of those eggs will become a full-sized lobster.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23These eggs will have to take their chances in the wide empty spaces of the open ocean
0:36:23 > 0:36:26because I'm letting this old lady go, but these eggs
0:36:26 > 0:36:30are the luckiest eggs in Cornwall. I'm going to take them ashore
0:36:30 > 0:36:33and hopefully their survival rate will be dramatically improved.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37Razorbill is one of only 20 small boats in Cornwall
0:36:37 > 0:36:41with a special licence to bring berried lobsters ashore
0:36:41 > 0:36:45as part of a scheme to further secure the future of the species.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53Well, here she is, the expectant mum.
0:36:53 > 0:36:58This is a bit of wet carpet just to keep her moist and also it creates
0:36:58 > 0:37:02a very dark, enclosed, safe environment for her to minimise stress.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06There she is, and there are her eggs, just under her tail there.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09And you can see they're bright red,
0:37:09 > 0:37:12you can actually see little black dots in them,
0:37:12 > 0:37:17so she's totally ready to spread those into the water column.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28Monty heads north across Cornwall to the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow,
0:37:28 > 0:37:33a charity that is working to preserve lobster stocks in UK waters.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37My precious cargo.
0:37:37 > 0:37:38- Hi.- Is it Dom?
0:37:38 > 0:37:40- Good to meet you.- Hello, I'm Monty.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43- Nice to meet you. - This is an expectant lady.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45Brilliant. Let's have a quick look at her.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50Fish biologist Dominic Boothroyd assesses Monty's lobster.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54Yeah, that's good, she's probably got a couple weeks to go, I'd say. Maybe a week to go.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57Right. What happens to this young lady now?
0:37:57 > 0:38:00What we'll do, we'll put her into some water,
0:38:00 > 0:38:02she'll have a disinfectant bath for an hour,
0:38:02 > 0:38:05and then she'll go in with other expectant mothers in the brew tank.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09It's like a kind of spa. I've sort of bonded with this one,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12we've been through a lot, me and this lobster.
0:38:12 > 0:38:17After hatching, the larvae are transferred into a rearing container
0:38:17 > 0:38:22which is pumped with fresh seawater, recreating the ebb and flow of their natural environment.
0:38:22 > 0:38:28In the wild, very few lobsters would make it through these early, vulnerable stages.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32A much greater proportion of those reared here will survive.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34Finally, in a few months' time,
0:38:34 > 0:38:40the juvenile lobsters will be boxed up, transported to the sea, and released.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44Have you found that the fishermen are onside about all this?
0:38:44 > 0:38:47Yeah, really onside, really supportive.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50They supply our berried females.
0:38:50 > 0:38:55We couldn't do anything without that. They want to be involved, they want to help us release as well.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00Without that involvement, I don't think the project would have much impact on the industry.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03We're trying to create a seeding programme
0:39:03 > 0:39:06where the fishermen are seeding their own grounds.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12Monty and Dom are going to release the offspring of a lobster
0:39:12 > 0:39:16caught close to Cadgwith a few months ago.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20What we'll do is we'll pump... basically pump the lobsters down to the seabed
0:39:20 > 0:39:24and have a nice little flume ride on the way down.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27That avoids the risk of them being intercepted by lots of shoaling fish,
0:39:27 > 0:39:31predatory fish, like mackerel, sardines, that sort of thing.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36When the weighted pipe has sunk to seafloor,
0:39:36 > 0:39:39the baby lobsters are scooped into the pump.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45There we go. Good luck, chaps,
0:39:45 > 0:39:47it's a jungle out there.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50And the moment they hit the bottom, they'll disseminate from that tube
0:39:50 > 0:39:52and burrow in almost straight away?
0:39:52 > 0:39:56- That's quite an instinctive reaction. - They will hide as soon as they can.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00- Right.- So they'll get out the end of the tube and they'll go, "Where am I?"
0:40:00 > 0:40:02Then the idea is they hide very quickly
0:40:02 > 0:40:06- and then after a while, once they've relaxed, they build a burrow.- Right.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10In the wild, once we've released them,
0:40:10 > 0:40:12we think the survival rate can be somewhere around 50%.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15- And in total we've done?- 1,600.
0:40:15 > 0:40:171,600. So in this area now
0:40:17 > 0:40:21there are 1,600 juvenile lobsters burrowing in.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26Hopefully, in five or six years' time,
0:40:26 > 0:40:28along this five-kilometre stretch of coastline,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31- there'll be 800 lobsters of a size. - Something in that region.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34Additional lobsters to what was already there.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37Right, terrific.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39Every year, the hatchery releases
0:40:39 > 0:40:42about 30,000 juvenile lobsters around the Cornish coast.
0:40:44 > 0:40:50And, with any luck, in five years' time, that will turn into that.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55The lobster seeding programme is one of many ways small boat skippers
0:40:55 > 0:40:58are helping to ensure the future of stocks.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01But at the moment, they receive little, if any,
0:41:01 > 0:41:05financial reward for being some of our most sustainable fishermen.
0:41:14 > 0:41:19It's mid-summer, and the holiday season is in full swing.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23Many visitors come to Cadgwith to see a traditional fishing port.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29But the future of the fleet is in serious doubt.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33What would the cove be like without its fishermen?
0:41:34 > 0:41:36If you took the fishing boats away,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39the pack of cards would fall very, very rapidly
0:41:39 > 0:41:43because the beach wouldn't be a fishing community any more.
0:41:43 > 0:41:48The shops, the pub, the schools would be affected.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52It would also inevitably lead
0:41:52 > 0:41:55to the change of use of all these buildings,
0:41:55 > 0:41:57like the one we're sitting in,
0:41:57 > 0:42:00into another lot of holiday lets.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05I think you only need to look at other places in Cornwall
0:42:05 > 0:42:07that had a community like this
0:42:07 > 0:42:1130, 40, 50 years ago, 20 years ago, even.
0:42:11 > 0:42:12And you look at them now,
0:42:12 > 0:42:16they're ghost towns, to be honest.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22The fishing fleet is what made Cadgwith what it is now,
0:42:22 > 0:42:25it's what built the place in the first instance.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Everything that is important in Cadgwith happens on
0:42:28 > 0:42:30and around the beach.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34It is a fishing village, there's no point in it existing
0:42:34 > 0:42:36if it isn't a fishing village.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53Monty is heading out with Cadgwith fisherman Nigel Legge.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56As well as lending him Razorbill for the past six weeks,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59Nigel has become Monty's mentor,
0:42:59 > 0:43:04teaching him the basics of crab and lobster fishing, and explaining the intricacies of life in the cove.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09Today, they are hauling some tangle nets.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12These are set along the seabed to catch spider crabs,
0:43:12 > 0:43:17which come into shallow waters in the summer to breed.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19- He's of a size, isn't he? - He's all right.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22In you go, fella. Unlucky.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27At this time of year, most spider crabs are caught
0:43:27 > 0:43:30by small boats working close to the shore.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32So there are fewer on the market than brown crabs,
0:43:32 > 0:43:35and they do fetch a slightly higher price.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39But demand for spider crabs in the UK is almost non-existent,
0:43:39 > 0:43:43though Nigel maintains this has nothing to do with how they taste.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47If you like shellfish and you have a spider crab,
0:43:47 > 0:43:51you'll never go back to a normal crab. It's as simple as that.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55Why do you think they just haven't caught on in the UK?
0:43:55 > 0:43:58I think you've got to ask the question,
0:43:58 > 0:44:01has any crab really caught on in the UK?
0:44:01 > 0:44:04We aren't a shellfish-eating nation.
0:44:10 > 0:44:15If you tell someone that what they're about to eat is exquisite meat,
0:44:15 > 0:44:18it's sweet, it's organic, as organic as anything can be,
0:44:18 > 0:44:22because it's completely wild and they're going to really enjoy it,
0:44:22 > 0:44:25and then you put that in front of them...
0:44:25 > 0:44:29That's the reaction we need to overcome I think,
0:44:29 > 0:44:32because that's kind of scary-looking and alien-looking.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35And it's called a spider crab for a reason.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37It looks like a damn great big spider.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42More than 95% of all the spider crabs caught in UK waters
0:44:42 > 0:44:46are exported to the Continent.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50Monty wants to find out why spider crabs are highly valued elsewhere,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53yet totally disregarded in the UK.
0:44:54 > 0:44:58It's madness that we don't eat these animals.
0:44:58 > 0:44:59Surely that is obvious.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03So what I'm going to do is follow these crabs to the Continent
0:45:03 > 0:45:08and I'm going to find out why it's different over there.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11For me, this is the start of a journey, following these guys.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14It's a start of a journey for both of us.
0:45:27 > 0:45:31These are the crabs myself and Nige caught, and they've got a tag, just to identify them,
0:45:31 > 0:45:35a little tie wrap we've stuck on there. This is the next stage of the journey.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38So they've been caught out there, they've been landed
0:45:38 > 0:45:42and they're about to go into the back of Gary's truck and be taken to Newlyn.
0:45:51 > 0:45:56The crabs are taken to holding tanks on the outskirts of Newlyn.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03Harveys now sell them on to other shellfish merchants
0:46:03 > 0:46:06who deal directly with buyers on the Continent.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11It's extraordinary the scale of this.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15It's quite mind-blowing, actually, the sort of industrialisation
0:46:15 > 0:46:17of this luxury foodstuff.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21But it's all to feed those insatiable markets overseas,
0:46:21 > 0:46:24that's the reason all of this exists, really.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30Monty's crabs have been bought by a Cornish company called Camelfish.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34They are loaded into seawater tanks that are continually pumped with air
0:46:34 > 0:46:36so the crabs can be transported alive.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41This is perfect habitat for them that they're going into now.
0:46:41 > 0:46:45It's cold, it's very heavily oxygenated,
0:46:45 > 0:46:49so it's like a first class compartment for them, really, for the next stage of the trip.
0:47:03 > 0:47:08Monty is going to follow behind to see where his crabs end up.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55The ferry docks in Brittany,
0:47:55 > 0:47:58and the truck sets off through the French countryside.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08A big articulated lorry like this does about eight miles to the gallon.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12The further the crabs travel, the more expensive they become.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17All of this adds to the price of the crab.
0:48:17 > 0:48:22There's a lorry driven by a man, both of those things cost money.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25There's labour costs, fuel costs, you've got to buy the truck.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29You know, this is one of the reasons that to buy it on the beach there,
0:48:29 > 0:48:31the wholesalers charge that much,
0:48:31 > 0:48:36and yet when it hits a table in a restaurant, it's gone to that much.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46Monty's crabs have been bought by another shellfish merchant
0:48:46 > 0:48:49and will now be distributed to local businesses.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02You can see they're in great shape,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05you can see they're very, very lively,
0:49:05 > 0:49:10so they're as fresh as the day they were caught off Cadgwith, which was two days ago.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14I'll be really curious to see where they actually end up.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16In you go, fella.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36One of the shellfish merchant's main customers is the local supermarket.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39Crabs from all over Europe end up here,
0:49:39 > 0:49:41alive and on display in huge tanks.
0:49:43 > 0:49:48Look at the price of this crab. It's eight euros per kilo.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Now, when I sold the crab on the beach,
0:49:51 > 0:49:54it was considerably less than that, obviously.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57It was maybe 20% of that price, and the reason is,
0:49:57 > 0:50:01that other 80%, of course, is simple market forces.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03It's gone through a large logistical chain -
0:50:03 > 0:50:08it's had to be stored in the UK, it's had to be picked up from that storage facility in the UK,
0:50:08 > 0:50:11it's had to go on a ferry, it's had to go in a truck,
0:50:11 > 0:50:15it's had to be stored at this end and then transported to the supermarket -
0:50:15 > 0:50:19this massive distribution network that all costs money.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25In Brittany, spider crabs are the centre piece of a family meal,
0:50:25 > 0:50:27just like a joint of beef would be in the UK.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35When you manges... do you break it open?
0:50:35 > 0:50:38SHE SPEAKS IN FRENCH
0:50:38 > 0:50:41- Ah, magnifique.- C'est tres bon. - Tres bon! Enjoy.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44Good Cornish crab.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48- Au revoir.- Au revoir.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51The gentleman and the lady there were just saying,
0:50:51 > 0:50:56"We get home, a bit of wine, a bit of bread, boil it for 20 minutes,
0:50:56 > 0:50:59"sit round with the family, crack it open."
0:50:59 > 0:51:03What a great thing to do. And you've done it with an animal you've seen is alive,
0:51:03 > 0:51:07you seen it in its environment, you've picked an individual animal that is in good condition...
0:51:09 > 0:51:13It's such a great way to shop and I think we're missing a trick here.
0:51:18 > 0:51:23I think it's encapsulated for me in, there we are, got a picture of a lovely Bretagne fishing boat,
0:51:23 > 0:51:27and you come down from the fishing boat and that's the stuff it's catching.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29There's that direct link
0:51:29 > 0:51:34and it's great to see that close attention to where this food comes from
0:51:34 > 0:51:37and appreciation of where this food comes from.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43Fishermen, and the seafood they catch,
0:51:43 > 0:51:45are an integral part of Bretagne culture.
0:51:50 > 0:51:51Oh!
0:51:51 > 0:51:54Complete with....
0:51:54 > 0:51:57In a traditional restaurant by the beach,
0:51:57 > 0:52:02Monty meets Marc, the shellfish merchant who bought his spider crabs.
0:52:02 > 0:52:07A great many places in the UK, if this came to a table
0:52:07 > 0:52:11- the diners would run screaming out the door, you know.- Ah, yes.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14From what I heard about British cooking, I heard that
0:52:14 > 0:52:18the British breakfast killed more people than the British Army.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24The crab is boiled for 20 minutes, then served with bread, mayonnaise
0:52:24 > 0:52:26and a crisp white wine.
0:52:26 > 0:52:28But spider crab meat is so delicious,
0:52:28 > 0:52:31this is considered to be a gourmet meal.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35People want to enjoy it, to have a special meal.
0:52:35 > 0:52:41They do spider crab for the weekend and for special occasions.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43So they can buy a live spider crab...
0:52:43 > 0:52:48- Mmm-hmm. And cook it themselves.- Cook it themselves, pick it themselves.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51- So this is almost like... In England, we have a Sunday roast.- Yes.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55- This would almost be the equivalent of a Sunday roast.- Yes.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58Many of the sales are by the week, yes.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02You have to have time to eat it and to appreciate it.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05I get the impression as I drive around that the fishing
0:53:05 > 0:53:09is a really key part of the identity of this part of France.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12In Brittany, people are proud of two things -
0:53:12 > 0:53:16the fishing and the farming. There is no real industry in Brittany,
0:53:16 > 0:53:19it's mainly going on the food,
0:53:19 > 0:53:23either from the field or from the sea.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28Your spider is very good.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31I only catch the very best, I'm well known for it.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34Small numbers but they're very good.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50It wasn't just a meal, that, I think it was an experience.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54You see families coming in and people nattering
0:53:54 > 0:53:59and great steaming mounds of seafood coming out, local produce.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03It's part of the culture. Why have we lost that?
0:54:03 > 0:54:05I just wonder why that's the case.
0:54:05 > 0:54:10Cadgwith, incidentally, is about 100 miles that way,
0:54:10 > 0:54:13and there's a yawning gap in that 100 miles,
0:54:13 > 0:54:17this vast chasm, between the way seafood is appreciated here
0:54:17 > 0:54:20and seafood appreciated on the mainland of Britain.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24I've no idea why that is and it's something I think we should get back.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31Whereas it seems here in France the fishing fleet is cherished and revered
0:54:31 > 0:54:34and is part of the identity,
0:54:34 > 0:54:39certainly here in Brittany, I don't get that same feeling in the UK.
0:54:41 > 0:54:46Monty's now convinced that if spider crabs were sold just a few miles from where they were caught
0:54:46 > 0:54:49instead of being shipped overseas,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52Cornish fishermen could be paid a better price.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56And if people at home appreciated their local seafood as the Bretons do,
0:54:56 > 0:55:02they might care more about the long-term survival of their fishing fleet.
0:55:12 > 0:55:16Hundreds of visitors have descended on Cadgwith for a gig racing festival.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18Inspired by his trip to France,
0:55:18 > 0:55:21Monty wants to find out if there is any logical reason
0:55:21 > 0:55:23why spider crabs are not eaten in the UK.
0:55:23 > 0:55:28So he's going to put the tourists' taste buds to the test.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35I'm quietly convinced that we just don't know how good spider crab is.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38Most of us just haven't got a clue how good it is.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42So with the able assistance of Nige,
0:55:42 > 0:55:44we've set up a little stall here
0:55:44 > 0:55:47and we're going to have a bowl of brown crab, edible crab,
0:55:47 > 0:55:50and we're going to have a bowl of spider crab,
0:55:50 > 0:55:53but we're not going to tell people which one's which.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56We'll stick the results on the board here
0:55:56 > 0:55:58and we'll find out at the end of the day
0:55:58 > 0:56:02what the great British public think of spider crab
0:56:02 > 0:56:05and what they think of edible crab.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09Get stuck in and give us your honest opinion.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22Crab B, I think, is much nicer crab than this one.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26It's got a different texture, a lot more flavour.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29B has more taste, I just like it better.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32I would say A is the crab, B is the spider.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34But which one do you prefer?
0:56:34 > 0:56:36Both of them, I love them.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39- That's got a much richer taste.- Mmm.
0:56:39 > 0:56:44Having the two together, it really does make a difference, and definitely B.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47I don't think I've ever had one before in my life, but I prefer B,
0:56:47 > 0:56:52and from here on, I'm going to start eating crab because it's delicious.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59So the scores on the doors at the end -
0:56:59 > 0:57:0323 people said they preferred edible crab to spider crab.
0:57:03 > 0:57:09And 65 people said they preferred spider crab to edible crab.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11So three times as many people
0:57:11 > 0:57:15like the spider crab as like the edible crab.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19So proof, were it needed, that we are insane
0:57:19 > 0:57:23sending all this fantastic food overseas.
0:57:25 > 0:57:27There it is, larger than life.
0:57:29 > 0:57:34Taste does not explain why spider crabs aren't eaten in Britain.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37It has more to do with the severing of the link to our coastal waters,
0:57:37 > 0:57:40and to the men who fish them.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43If we appreciated our seafood more,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47perhaps we would care more about the problems facing our fishermen
0:57:47 > 0:57:50and we would value costal communities like Cadgwith,
0:57:50 > 0:57:52where, for now, at least,
0:57:52 > 0:57:55the land is still connected to the sea.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02Next time - Monty swaps one of the smallest fishing boats in Cornwall
0:58:02 > 0:58:07for one of the largest, as he braves storm-force winds on a beam trawler.
0:58:08 > 0:58:09Things can go wrong.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13Everything aboard the boat is put to its maximum stress.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17I'm told... I'm told I'm being a total lightweight.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21He discovers the truth about trawlermen.
0:58:21 > 0:58:25They're calling us villains cos we're raping the seabed.
0:58:25 > 0:58:30We're just honest working men, doing an honest working day.
0:58:52 > 0:58:55Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd