While diners are paying as much as £70 for seafood platters at some of the Island’s top hotels and restaurants, hard-working fishermen are receiving as little as 75p per crab or £4 for each lobster they catch.
The prices, which have sunk to an all-time low, are now threatening the future of the fishing industry as more and more Islanders turn away from a possible career in the trade.
Don Thompson, chairman of the Jersey Fishermen’s Association, said: ‘We have good fish stocks in Jersey waters and we have excellent fishermen. But we need better prices for what we are catching.
‘Most of the guys on the boats came into the industry on the day they left school. They are really resilient and they will put up with almost anything rather than sell their boats and get another job. But the prices we are getting from the merchants are now the lowest they have ever been, and it is making our lives difficult.’
• A special report in today’s Jersey Evening Post looks back at the industry’s proud history, reports on the life of a Jersey fisherman and examines how Islanders themselves can help boost the struggling business.
