Antony

I started fishing with my dad in the family business when I was around the age of 6 years old.

 I wouldn’t have changed it for anything in the world; it’s not a job, it’s a way of life My passion for sustainable good quality fish started at a very young age and was passed down through family generations.

The day I left school I went to sea full time on the family boat and by July 1992, I had obtained my class 2 skippers qualifications and by September 1996, I studied and obtained my class 1 fishing vessel skippers qualification. By 2002 we had a new vessel built; the SILVER DAWN and it was a game changer. We had never been safer whilst at sea and it enabled us to land the best quality fish, sustainability caught  from our own Cornish shores. We use a very sustainable method of fishing that has an extremely low impact on our environment. Our fishing nets are recycled as well.

  Around 2012 we bought another vessel; the STELISSA. Shortly after that I came ashore, after 25 years at sea, to work as manager and with ever changing demands on our industry, this allowed me the time to keep the vessels in top working order and maintain our commitment to the industry.

I am proud to be a voluntary, board member of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation (CFPO) that has achieved big steps within our industry and our community. I am also a harbour commissioner and a director of the Cornish Ice Company that supplies ice for our fishing boats and fish markets. 

Our CFPO applied for the MSC ACCREDITATION for the Cornish hake gill net fishery and we have proudly fished with this for over 5 years, our fish stocks are healthy and our method of fishing has proved its self.

We are so lucky in the SW to have over 30 different species of fresh fish for anyone who loves the healthy Cornish fish this is it. 

Life in the fishing industry is challenging and it’s always been the same. European politics and the final outcome of Brexit is currently unknown (written August 2020) and we have had occasions when we struggled to sell our fish at market or send fish to the export market. 

The terrible situation with Covid-19 made things even worse, so I decided that in order to survive we need to sell our fantastic wild caught product directly to UK restaurants and the British public

So, I joined forces with a good friend of mine who has done all this before. Saul has been a fisherman and a restaurateur and between us, we can get the very best quality fish to anyone’s door.

So, we have started a new company together CORNWALL FISH DIRECT and we would be so proud to serve and supply our beautiful Cornish product.

Saul

I was lucky enough to be born in Cornwall in a beautiful village called Nancledra, just a few miles from the North coast near St.Ives.

From a very young age my friends and I fished in our local rivers for wild brown trout and eels. As we grew up, we went further afield and started fishing from beaches and cliffs all around the Cornish coast for Bass, Cod, Pollock, Mackerel and more.

So the next step was to get a small commercial fishing boat; we fished out of St.Ives and sold to the local markets. I upgraded my boat a few times, ending up with an offshore Catamaran named "Proper Job". I took her to Southern Ireland and fished out of County Kerry for line caught Pollock and Mackerel for a couple of years. (Over the years I did a lot of travelling to various countries including Australia, Germany and Israel where I learned a lot about the fishing industry and the building trade).

After Ireland I returned back to Cornwall and fished out of various ports, mainly Hayle on the North coast. 

I had always had a passion for catching line caught fish especially Bass, Pollock, Squid and Mackerel. I kept my fish in insulated bins with slush ice to keep the fish in top condition, then started selling my fish to local restaurants. One thing led to another and I started a wholesale fish company called Wild Harbour - selling fish all around the UK and into Europe. During this time, I bought fish direct from Antony's boats because the quality and standards were, and of course still are, top class.

From there Antony and myself formed a good friendship and now, here we are, starting "Cornwall fish direct" - selling top quality sustainable and traceable fish from local markets, day boat fisherman and direct off Antony's boats the" Stelissa" and the "Silverdawn".