The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
July 2016 back issue
by Damian Bird
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
Mark Cornwell and his single crew member, fish within a nature reserve, as part of a small, close-knit fishing community
in the heavily protected environment that is the Jurassic Coast. His job is primal. He hunts daily for meat to support his
family.
He and a handful of other fishing vessels fish in a controlled and ecologically sustainable manner. He is one of a handful
of independent trawlermen who catch their daily fish and sell it straight to the local fish market on the quay.
But despite the seemingly halcyon surroundings, sea-fishing is still an undeniably, extremely dangerous job. Fishermen
have to keep their wits about them. More lives are lost at sea in the fishing industry than in any other profession in the
UK. The trawler regularly gets stuck on the sea bed and the rear of the boat can be dragged under the water by snagged
obstacles. During our 12 hour trip, the boat caught a large dead tree in its nets. Although no-one was hurt, it took several
hours to disentangle and nets had to be re-sewn. Trawlermen accept that they will regularly lose all of their gear due to
snagging.
With Mark’s fishing vessel worth in the region of £100,000, uncertain fuel costs and the ever present risk of losing time
and equipment, the hunter-gatherer’s stakes are high.