A big blue future for
Scottish haddock

As part of this year’s Sustainable Seafood Week, the MSC’s Senior PR and Media Manager for UK & Ireland, Karen Attwood, spoke with haddock fishermen from Scotland about sustainable fishing and why they love their jobs. 

“With this job you are always learning,” says Colin Stephen, skipper of the Harvest Hope fishing trawler. “I’ve been at sea all my life but something new will crop up on every trip and I’ll take something from that.”  

Colin started fishing straight from school, like his father and grandfather and his brother, who recently retired. Colin at 53, bought his brother out of the business and he intends to keep on going strong.

“We were brought up in the village, Boddam, next to Peterhead here,” he continues. “If you stepped out of the house you stepped into the sea. The small harbour is where we used to live. It’s been a way of life from when I was a school child, we went out on the krill boats. It was just in you. This is what I always wanted to do and I don’t see myself doing anything else.”   

Colin is part of the Scottish haddock fleet, and the fishery which includes members of the Scottish Fisheries Sustainability Assessment Group (SFSAG) and producers, has been certified since 2010. Haddock is big business with 27,000 tonnes landed into Scotland in 2019 worth £41 million.

Guaranteeing a lifetime in the job

Andrew Bremner, skipper of the Boy Andrew, says that for the past two years, the fishery has seen the biggest numbers of juvenile fish for 40 years.

“They are not at the size to be marketable, but they have spawned a lot and reproduced a lot these past few years,” he explains. The fishermen use bigger mesh nets so these juveniles escape and in a couple of years they will reap the rewards as these young fish grow to maturity.

“You have to make sure you are guaranteeing a future in the job,” Andrew says. “I’m 29 and I want to be doing this for another 30 or 40 years. It’s in my interest to fish within sustainable levels. This has to do with the science. With haddock you are only taking out a safe level. You are not scratching the surface of what is there.”

Andrew adds that the MSC label shows the consumer “it is a sustainable and safe product to eat and you are not harming the stock.”

“It gives them confidence when they buy,” he says, adding that the haddock is sold within the UK, to supermarkets as well as being a staple in Scottish fish and chip shops, rather than cod eaten more widely across the border.

Colin agrees that it is imperative the fishery remains sustainable.

“If you start abusing it and doing silly things there is no future as quotas get cut and your back is to the wall,” he says. “Anyone with a sensible head on the shoulder has to do what is sustainable for the stock. It’s your future you are working with and gambling with – why jeopardise it? You have to think about the long term.”    

He adds: “The supermarkets are going down the route of certified fish one way or another, if you are going to sell to supermarkets you need to be sustainable.”

Gavin Thain, skipper of the Guiding Light, explains that the “MSC keeps an eye on scientific advice and catch so the supermarket and buyers are comfortable that they are buying from a sustainable source.”

No two trips are the same

“The haddock season runs all year round but January and February are better months as the fish are spawning,” Gavin adds. “If the fish are spawning you will get bigger shoals and bigger fish.”

The fish are found at depths of 40 to 200m in the northern and central areas of the North Sea but can range as far south as the Humber Estuary. Gavin and his crew go out for ten days at a time. “The journey can vary from four or five hours from Peterhead to maybe 20 hours. Some vessels fish at Rockall so that would take 30 hours. We’re usually in the North Sea, east of Shetland. The haddock is landed at Peterhead and sold at auction with a lot staying in UK and consumed domestically. We land the catch and go straight back out on another trip so this would be two five-day trips – then some time off.”

The Guiding Light pairs with sister vessel the Guiding Star to fish using a trawl.

“We tow one large trawl between us,” Gavin says. “One vessel will shoot the net and we go alongside. We tow around a quarter of a mile apart, for two or three hours depending on the catch. We have a net monitoring system, that gives us an indication of the quality of the fish. It’s important to maintain quality. We take the fish up to the surface and split the catch between the two boats so it’s two crews working on the same catch.”

Although modern approaches and improvements to aide sustainability over the years have been made, Gavin explains that this method of fishing for haddock is still similar to that of his father’s. “It’s been done in this way, I would say about since the 70s – so my father was doing it that way.”   

Like Colin, his grandfather and father were fishermen and he started at 16.

“I suppose you’ve got to be brought up in the job to like it and if you don’t like it you won’t be good at it. No two trips are the same. Every trip is a challenge. You don’t know what you will find when you go out there.”  

All hands on deck

Andrew says he too is “following on in tradition that started with my grandfather”.

“He started a company 60 or 70 years ago. My father took it over and I’ve taken it over from him,” he says. “It’s fine to continue the family tradition.” 

Andrew says he enjoys everything about the job but it is not without its challenges.

“You are going out and hunting and you get great job satisfaction when you find the fish. It’s a job well done. You want to be the best at what you do but it’s got a big effect on your social life. You miss parties and weddings. If you didn’t enjoy it, it would be the worst job in the world. You have to love the job you do.”

While some of the other boats have a crew comprising locals and some from overseas, Andrew’s crew are all from the same town of Wick close to John O’Groats.

“We have to get on well living together in close quarters,” he says, adding they have ages ranging from 20s to 60s. “We always have quite a happy fun atmosphere on board.”

And with good, sustainable management in place and such large numbers of fish being spawned in recent years, there is much to celebrate. As Andrew says: “Scottish haddock has got a big future.”

It’s all hands on deck during Sustainable Seafood Week (16-24 September, 2021) as we’re celebrating the amazing efforts and hard work of the Cornwall sardine fleet and their sustainable catch. Be sure to choose MSC certified sardines when you’re shopping or eating out this week to ensure there’s seafood for future generations.