What sparked your interest in fishing?
A morning’s mackerel fishing in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk with a skipper called Nigel had me hooked —and he’s never been able to get rid of me. He asked me to come and work for him, so in 2018 I jacked in my office job to become one of the UK’s few commercial fisherwomen, unhooking and gutting mackerel and preparing baits and pots. I loved the contrast: the lack of stress; the seriously funny fishermen.
What’s the catch in Norfolk?
We currently catch 90% shellfish —crabs, lobsters and whelks. There’s also fantastic mackerel and cod, which we catch responsibly with hook and line. We’re highly selective: everything undersize goes back. There’s no fish market in Wells-next-the-Sea, so we sell directly on the quay. It’s all sushi-grade, freshly caught that day and very reasonably priced as we’ve cut out the middlemen. Excited campers come to buy lobsters we sell for as little as
