What you eat matters: Cornish Fishing

30 Apr 2025

Fishy Facts - Why where our fish is from matters

In the UK we mainly eat just 5 types of seafood - cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns, and the vast majority of this is be imported.

Fish such as cod and haddock are often imported in the form of frozen fillets of white fish which then are used to make fish fingers or in fish & chip takeways.

"75% of people in the UK have their first taste of fish in the form of a fish finger"

Often this fish will have been caught by big trawlers operating out of countries such as China, Vietnam and Russia, with much lower standards of sustainability than we have here in the UK. Exports directly from Russia have been subjected to extra tariffs as a response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine but Russia has been evading these sanctions by sending it to China first as a loophole to get around the restrictions in place.

80% of the seafood caught in Cornwall is exported to Europe.

In Cornwall we land over 50 species and our fresh fish and seafood is regarded as some of the best in the world - which is why the French and Spanish buy so much of it! We have MSC status for Cornish Sardines, and the Cornish Hake gill net fishery.

83% of the Cornish fishing fleet is under 10m - these are generally referred to as day boats as due to their size they are restricted on how long they can go out for and how far they can go. Their small size means they are far more vulnerable to weather and sea conditions providing a natural form of management on the number of days they can go fishing.

Cornish Fishing Industry

Cornwall has a long and proud fishing heritage and today fishing is still an important part of Cornwall's economy & culture.

Cornwall Fish Producers Organisation (https://www.cfpo.org.uk/) commissioned the Value of Seafood to Cornwall report to quantify the economic impact of Cornish seafood. This comprehensive analysis revealed Cornwall’s seafood sector contributes £174 million to Cornwall’s gross value added, supporting approximately 8,000 jobs.

Landing over fifty different species a year, Cornwall’s fishing fleet is one of the most sustainable and diverse in Europe, yielding an average first-sale value of £50 million a year. Notably, for every fisherman at sea, there are 15 additional jobs onshore, underscoring the industry’s extensive economic reach.

The impressive findings of this research demonstrate how integral Cornwall’s seafood sector is to the Cornish economy, employment and other high-value sectors in the South West.

To find out more visit: https://www.cfpo.org.uk/our-value/

Or watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2JT01loTtk