At close to midnight, the crew of the Rachel Anne are surprisingly cheerful, given they have spent seven hours fruitlessly searching the English Channel for sardines. Scanning the screens in the wheelhouse, Richard Chamberlain, the skipper, suddenly spots a red blob on the echo-sounder which indicates a sizeable shoal is close by. “It’s looking good,” he shouts, checking its location and satisfied that it is a “tight” (and therefore plentiful) shoal, and not too deep. “Let’s shoot.”
The nocturnal silence off Cornwall is shattered as a huge circular net is catapulted or “shot” overboard by a hydraulic winch and – engine revving – the boat lurches ahead in a giant curve, the net unfurling behind.
The activity and noise intensify as the three-strong crew – their yellow oilskins glinting in the moonlight – leap into action. They are activating a “purse seine” – a whopping 420-metre circular wall of net which encloses the shoal and is then closed at the bottom by means of a line rather like the string used to close a purse.
In the darkness, floodlights illuminate the boat and screeching gulls circle overhead as thousands of flailing, silvery sardines, are brought up and put straight to chill on ice.
It’s a typical fishing expedition off England’s south-west coast. But also on board to experience the drama is Ally Dingwall, aquaculture and fisheries manager for Sainsbury’s. He has followed at close quarters the recent transformation of the unloved and unfashionable pilchard into the brand of “Cornish sardines” – now regarded as among the best-tasting in the world and deserving of protected geographical status since 2010. Dingwall is masterminding a drive to push sardines into the premier league of British fish.
At a time when consumers are being wooed by budget supermarkets offering frozen farmed fish from the other side of the world – typically African tilapia and pangasius from Asia – the UK’s second largest supermarket is launching a campaign to get shoppers to eat sustainably-caught, healthy (high in omega 3 oils) species caught from British waters. “Cornish sardines are one of the country’s great sustainable fish choices that deserve more celebration,” said Dingwall. “Sales of fresh sardines have surged in the past year. Yet the vast majority – around 90% – of sardines caught off the Cornish coast end up being exported to Europe, predominantly to France, Spain and Portugal.”
Appetite for the fish is growing worldwide, including in Japan and China where they are considered a delicacy, pan-fried in panko bread crumbs.
The irony, Dingwall explains, is that Britons go on holiday to Portugal or Spain and enjoy freshly-grilled sardines on barbecues and in restaurants. “They are eating fish from British waters – wild not farmed, and caught sustainably – which they can and should be enjoying when they come home. It’s a versatile fish and easy to prepare and cook. We are doing our bit to try to change that but there’s a long way to go.”
Many of the sardines are supplied by Interfish in Plymouth – a third-generation family business and now one of the UK’s leading processors of pelagic fish. Interfish’s vessels catch 6,700 tonnes of sardines a year on average, with 250 tonnes going directly to Sainsbury’s customers. Firmly rooted in Cornish history, sardines (from the Latin Sardina pilchardus) have been caught commercially off the south-west peninsula since Elizabethan times, and modern purse seines are based on traditional ring nets – minimising bycatch and with low environmental impact.
There are no quotas but under rules drawn up by the Cornish Sardine Management Association, a boat is not allowed to catch more than 40 tonnes in a 24-hour period. Cornish sardine fishermen also recently agreed a new code of conduct which limits the fishery to 15 vessels – typically small ones like the Rachel Anne. The fishing season starts towards the end of July and finishes in March, with oil content and quality changing through the seasonal fishing window.
“Cornish sardines are a fantastic British oily fish,” said Toby Middleton, the Marine Stewardship Council’s programme director, North East Atlantic. “We’ve long been used to mackerel on our supermarket shelves, and kippers have a place in our hearts. But sardines are having their own renaissance.”
Having snatched a few hours’ sleep, Dingwall is tucking into pan-fried sardines – the fish he saw come out of the water less than 12 hours previously. Thanks to a series of campaign – from government ones to those promoted by the chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver – consumer awareness of fish stocks and sustainability has increased, says Dingwall.
In November, Sainsbury’s will launch a new range showcasing seasonal, British-caught wild fish such as Dover sole, monkfish and whiting. The new Fishmongers’ Choice range – much of it from Interfish – will be include both fresh and frozen and on sale in 210 of its stores.
Latest industry figures show that 80% of fish bought by British consumers is one of the big five staples – cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns. A coming sardine revolution could be about to change all that.
