“75% of the number of boats get just 4% of the quota. But what's even more shocking of late is that this 4% quota that they have, in recent years, they've not even been able to fish. So they have the ability to go and fish it, but the fish simply aren't on the ground.”
The Food Programme · Food & Beverage · October 2026
The founder of fish supplier Soul of Discretion, who buys from about 20 small boats along England's south-west coast, was describing the position of the small-boat fleet. She said the fight a decade ago was over quota; now the worry is that the fish aren't there.
Transcript
…think there's something really joyful about making a livelihood. They're not going to get mega-rich. They don't necessarily aspire to being mega-rich. They aspire to a good livelihood made by the honesty of fishing on a boat with nature. And there's a huge story in that that goes back generations.
At the heart of this mission is a network of around 20 small boats which fish from the tip of Cornwall to Dorset and during the summer, Shetland.
So in England, actually, the small boats represent the vast majority. They're about 75% of the boats, about 2,000 of them, whereas there are only about 500 bigger vessels. And yet, they are at a huge disadvantage in that they only have access to quota, so the right to fish, of about 4%. So 75% of the number of boats get just 4% of the quota. But what's even more shocking of late is that this 4% quota that they have, in recent years, they've not even been able to fish. So they have the ability to go and fish it, but the fish simply aren't on the ground. And that's a far more sobering fact than, you know, let's fight for quota, which is really what we were doing 10 years ago. Now it's just that simply the fish aren't there on the grounds, which is a much more worrying development.
And so it's important that the fish that are caught are all eaten, which is why Soul of Discretion is attempting to increase our interest in species beyond the so-called big five: salmon, tuna, prawns, cod, and haddock.
You look at the species that are fished off the coast of Plymouth. The auction here before it closed was regularly auctioning 50-odd different species a day. I mean, you know, 50 is 10 times more than the five that we habitually eat. And if there is no market for it, if the value is something…
One of the fishers based in Plymouth that Caroline has worked with since the beginning of Soul of Discretion is Graham Sowell.
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