New apprenticeship to tackle sea fishing crew 'crisis'

An apprenticeship in commercial sea fishing will launch in 2022 in a bid to tackle a shortage of British crews.

Adrian Bevin, from South Devon College, which is behind the scheme, said the "industry has reached crisis point".

He said he believed people were previously put off by "out-dated" perceptions of the industry.

Chloe North, from the Western Fish Producers Organisation, said they wanted to "get people excited about fishing again".

"It is a decent way to make money at a young age and you don't need a university degree to progress," she said.

The apprenticeship will begin in September 2022, be open to over 16s and will run from the college.

While the course will look at the core fishing skills, like net mending and navigating, it will also look at sustainability and money management.

Ms North said about half of the deck-hands in Brixham, in Devon, came from countries like the Philippines, Ghana and Latvia.

"The problem with getting crew from abroad is we can get the crew but they just want to be here for a little bit of time, make some money to send back to their families and then go home, they're not here to progress and become skippers and stay indefinitely," she said.

"We need to think about the long-term crewing in the industry."

Mr Bevin, head of curriculum for technology at the college, said they were hoping to change perceptions of the fishing industry as for many years it had been touted as a viable option for those "with lower academic ability living near to the sea fishing community".

"The perception is that it's a smelly, dirty and uneducated industry."

"The reality is that these are multimillion-pound vessels with highly-skilled, talented operators and it's actually a much cleaner industry than it ever used to be, the facilities on the vessels are much improved."

The apprenticeship will work with the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation, the South West Fish Producers Organisation and the Western Fish Producers Organisation.

Government department Defra said it was aware of concerns about shortages in crew and an ageing population within the industry.

It added it was working with stakeholders to identify and discuss solutions to the barriers for new entrants looking to enter the industry.

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