SAFER FISHERMEN MEANS STRONGER COMMUNITIES

People whose livelihoods depend on fishermen coming home safe have thrown their support behind a new Home and Dry fishing safety campaign, launched this month, calling for personal safety at sea to be treated as a shared responsibility across the industry.

The campaign brings together voices from across coastal communities – including a fishmonger, chandler, training provider and seafood restaurant – to recognise the far-reaching role fishermen play in sustaining jobs, businesses and livelihoods on land, and to underline why staying safe at sea matters to far more than just those onboard the vessel.

Led by the Home and Dry Fishing Safety Forum, the campaign aims to reinforce practical safety behaviours at sea by showing fishermen the value of their work through the eyes of the people who rely on them every day.

The campaign’s supporters include Rick and Katie Toogood of award-winning seafood restaurant Prawn on the Lawn based in London and Padstow. The success of their business is shaped by its connections with local fishermen.  

Katie explained:

“If we didn’t have local fishermen, we wouldn’t have a restaurant. Eighty percent of what we have on the menu is local and it changes all through the day, sometimes six or seven times, based on serving the freshest possible fish. Our ethos is, if the weather isn’t good enough for fishermen to go out, we probably shouldn’t have it on our menu.”

Also supporting the campaign is master fishmonger Elaine Lorys of W Stevenson & Sons, who works closely with their local fishing fleet in Newlyn. Elaine said:

“There’s such a wide range of people that are relying on fishermen to land their catch: the people that are landing it on the market, all the couriers and the filleters. We employ six people here just at the shop. There is a lot relying on the fishermen coming in from sea with the catches that they do.”

Rick, Katie and Elaine appear in a new video to launch the campaign, alongside Neal Turner of Newline Chandlery and Clive Palfrey of Seafood Cornwall Training. The video, along with guidance on key safety topics and training information, can be seen below.

Neil McAleese, head of industry workforce issues at Seafish, which co-ordinates Home and Dry, said:

“Our video shares a snapshot of life from Cornwall, but this is a story that plays out in fishing towns all around the UK. Every job created at sea can support between eight to 15 jobs on land. From restaurants and shops to boatyards and harbours, fishermen support far more than food supply – they sustain communities, industries and livelihoods.

“Voices like Elaine, Neal, Clive, Katie and Rick show just how wide the impact is when fishermen don’t come home safe, and why encouraging safety at sea is a shared responsibility. We invite others, wherever they are, to get involved and lend their support to fishermen’s safety.”

Throughout February, Home and Dry will be publishing industry stories and practical safety advice on Instagram and Facebook. Fishermen, their communities and the wider seafood industry are urged to share the content with their own networks, and show that zero preventable deaths at sea is a shared goal.

Image: Seafish