Fish you can eat from the Thames
Fishing in the Thames
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Crewman Egon is one of only two
crew on this small Thames boat
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‘We caught two tonnes of sprats yesterday in five minutes!’ laughs
fisherman Martin Yorworth, not quite believing his luck. It turns out
there were reports of an enormous school of sprats (small ocean fish,
like tiny herring) from the mouth of the Thames all the way up to
Lowestoft, and Yorworth has a bumper catch to sell at London’s farmers’
markets.
We’re on Canvey Island, on the Essex side of the Thames
estuary, where Yorworth was born and bred. His family has lived on
Canvey for more than 170 years. It’s a barren but strangely beautiful
place: an industrial landscape dotted with mudflats, allotments and
stables, plus clapperboard pub the Lobster Smack, once a watering place
for smugglers.
A handful of boats are moored in Hole Haven
Creek, one of the tributaries that feed the Thames. This is where
Yorworth keeps his two beloved trawlers, Catherine Cara and Jessie
Alice, minutes from his home on the island; he boards them via a tiny
fibreglass boat he calls a skit. The word ‘trawler’ may bring to mind
images of huge vessels dredging up the sea floor but these boats are
less than 10 metres long, just big enough for two crewmen.
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But
Yorworth is determined to conserve British fishing, and of course his
own livelihood, which is why he’s started selling his catch in person.
Most small, independent fishermen still sell their haul to the
wholesalers or fish markets such as Billingsgate, who will only buy
certain fish in bulk within strict weight and count specifications.
This means that any by-catch – fish with little or no market value –
gets thrown back. Yorworth, in contrast, is fishing in a more
traditional way: seeing what he can catch then trying to sell it at
market, laid out on his stall dressed with lemons and crushed ice (with
maybe some cooked sprats for customers to try).
Only a year ago,
Yorworth’s entire catch was sold wholesale. Then London Farmers’
Markets contacted him through the Thames Estuary Partnership. This
charity brings together a diverse group of organisations to ensure a
sustainable future for the estuary. They were searching for fishermen
to complement the existing range of stalls at London markets. Faced
with declining wholesale prices (just 20p per kilo for those sprats),
Yorworth seized the opportunity and hasn’t looked back since. Apart
from anything else, he loves the diversity it’s brought to his job,
particularly the direct dealings with his customers.
Unlike the
wholesalers, his market customers aren’t concerned with different
shapes and sizes, having become used to buying knobbly, muddy carrots
at the farmers’ market. As Yorworth explains, ‘I’m earning more money
for the fish and my expenses are next to nothing,’ as he can often net
a varied catch closer to home, reducing his outgoings and the impact on
fish stocks. Meanwhile his customers are getting the pick of the
season’s fish at fantastic value, especially when choosing lesser-known
fish species. And when he says fresh, sometimes his stock can be only
hours out of the water. ‘The freshest we ever have it is when we land
the boats at two or three in the morning, get a few hours’ kip and
leave for the market at 6am,’ he states proudly.
As it depends
on the time of year, the weather, how far out he’s had to sail and
whether he’s been able to get out on to the estuary at all, you never
know what he’ll have for sale. Through the seasons there have been live
eels and velvet swimming crabs, Dover sole, sea bass, mackerel and
sprats, complemented by bunches of samphire (an estuarine plant) during
its short season between June and August. There are often fish that
people haven’t come across before in the supermarkets or even
fishmongers, such as flounder or smelt. ‘I hadn’t even eaten smelt
until my crewman Egon persuaded me,’ Yorworth admits. ‘ but it’s a
lovely fish.’ It’s widely consumed in Egon’s native Lithuania where it
makes a welcome dish in winter, fried and eaten whole.
Looking
upstream towards London, and out towards the English Channel and North
Sea, there are surprisingly few boats on Time Out’s visit. There aren’t
many boats moored on the creek either. This is testament to the decline
of the Thames estuary fishing fleet in recent decades. Only 133
recorded commercial vessels were operating between Dungeness and
Harwich in 2006. The reduction can be attributed to shrinking fishing
quotas, increased bureaucracy and, Yorworth tells me, increasingly
unpredictable weather. But generations of fishermen have made their
living in this way, long before concerns about fish sustainability,
quotas, or competition from more ‘efficient’ trawlers. As Martin
Yorworth says, fishing’s ‘in his blood’ and adapting to new demands by
selling at farmers’ markets, means that fishermen like him may be
around to sell us fresh fish from the Thames estuary for a while longer.
Where to find Martin Yorworth’s fish stalls
Acton Farmers’ Market
Public Square, Acton High St, W3; Saturdays 9am-1pm.
Blackheath Farmers’ Market
Station car park, 2 Blackheath Village, SE3; Sundays 10am-2pm.
Walthamstow Farmers’ Market
Town Square, by Selbourne Walk Shopping Centre, off High St, E17;
Sundays 10am-2pm (this last one is manned by Egon, or by Yorworth’s
dad).
Further information: www.lfm.org.uk
