DH141 Britannia of Beesands Kingswear S. Devon crabber, skipper Stuart Buscombe. Pisces-rfr

Описание: Britannia fishes out of Kingswear, on the south Devon coast, operating several hundred parlour crab pots in Start Bay / Skerries Bank up to Start Point - part of the South Devon IPA (Inshore Potting Agreement) area, one of the longest running UK voluntary agreements to avoid gear conflicts between operators of mobile and static gear.

Synopsis and timings: Its a pre-dawn start from the Kingswear moorings, and the sequence includes cutting (0:20 onwards) and defrosting (0:50 onwards) of frozen bait of fish frames (the carcass left over from filleting) and species such as lesser spotted dogfish. It shows the nighttime hauling of pots (1:05), and the co-ordinated removal of crabs and rebaiting. The pots are carefully stacked, taking great care (2:35 onwards) that the lines laid out on the deck are not crossed. This means that when the string of pots are fed back into the water (2:50) there is no danger to the crew or vessel. At 3.40 it is daylinght and we are off Start Point lighthouse. The anchor weight can be judged (4.35), following which crabber DH 63 Skerry Belle overhauls and crosses Brittania's bow. Pots shown going back in at 5:50. 6:20 sees the pots being hauled again, this time from above,showing how the pots are suspended on a second line from the haul line.At 7.00 skipper Stuart Buscombe is 'nicking' the crab claw tendons (so they can no longer cause injury).

Britannia of Beesands is owned by and lands to land to the eponymous fish suppliers at Beesands, http://www.britanniashellfish.co.uk run by Anita and Nick Hutchings. The video was shot in November 2010.

No control over the background music, I'm afraid, it was on the ships radio. Apart from Stuart there were two crew, John Stanley (all in yellow) and one other - I'm afraid I no longer have your name, so if you want to be identified, please let me know!

All in all another well honed operation on a very tidily run boat! I have stills photos from this trip, but I'm currently waiting for a second opportunity to go out on the Britannia and document other South Devon fisheries before writing this up on the www.pisces-rfr.org website