Cornwall family put boat up for sale after 300 years at sea

The Hunkin family have been fishing the seas off Cornwall for 300 years

A family that have been fishing off the coast of Cornwall for 14 generations said they have quit the industry due to new government regulations.

The Hunkin family, from Mevagissey, have been fishing for about 300 years, since the reign of King George I.

However, on 1 January 2024 the pollack catch quota was set to zero, apart from a small by-catch allowance, in order to preserve stocks.

Daniel Hunkin said he and others had since put their boats up for sale.

He said the crew relied on pollack for more than half their annual income and he was worried for the industry as a whole.

"We have put our business up for sale, my brother has put his business up for sale and if you look... on the internet there's boats going up left, right and centre," he said.

Mr Hunkin welcomed his third daughter with his partner this week but said it was "more stress because we've got no income coming in".

Daniel Hunkin welcomed his third daughter with his partner this week but said financial pressures were causing distress

His father, John Hunkin, asked why the government left the industry with "10 days' notice".

He said: "Why don't they say in five years' time we're going to do something?

"They keep talking, they're good at talking. They say help is coming but the crew are leaving."

Chris Ranford, CEO of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation, said the change was damaging the industry.

He said: "Normally, we'd have anything up to 10 tonne of pollock down here all nice and ready to go.

"We've stuck rigidly to the rules they've made for 10 years and now they're saying it's stopped."

'Potential mitigations'

The changes were made by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

It said it recognised the impact the changes could have on sections of the UK fleet and said it was "speaking to the fishing industry in the South West to explore potential mitigations".

Defra added: "We recently concluded annual negotiations with the EU, including an agreement that pollack can only be caught as by-catch in 2024.

"This is consistent with our previous approach when the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea has advised that certain stocks should not be caught."