Cornwall: This Fishing Life: Series 2 Episode 2 (BBC Two Monday 23 October 2023)

Cornwall: This Fishing Life: Series 2 Episode 2 airs Monday 23 October 2023 on BBC Two.

What is this episode about

Looe used to have Cornwall’s second-largest fishing fleet. For many years, it was known for bringing in some of the nation’s freshest and finest fish. When the Looe fleet was at its peak, they brought in 20 tonnes of fish every day, unprocessed, to the town’s thriving fish market. There are only a handful of permanent trawlers left, and the fish market shut down in 2019.

A tidal river a few hundred metres inland provides shelter for the fleet and influences local fishing practises. Trawlers from Looe can only leave the harbour at high tide. Much larger trawlers, too large to fit into harbours like Looe, are out there working the same waters for up to a week regardless of the weather. However, the Looe boats have found a way to make their diminutive size an asset. As the day’s catch, they bring in premium prices.

Plymouth, which is only 22 miles away from Looe, is one of the largest deep water harbours in the world. Looe boat captains who wanted larger vessels began migrating to Plymouth in the 1980s. The fleet of Looe shrank as ships left for Plymouth.

The Toms are a local family who, across three generations, are working to fight change by rebuilding the last boat ever constructed in Looe and investing in the island’s future. Despite their family’s long history in the industry, the Toms now find themselves on the margins of a highly competitive industry where catching fish is only half the battle. They’ve borrowed quota for a few months and need to fix up the old boat so they can start using it. Along the way to getting the boat out on the water, the Toms encounter the difficulties of Britain’s flawed quota system, in which only five families control nearly a third of the country’s total fish quota.

Sam Chapman, a fish merchant and recent arrival to the quay, is helping the Toms fight back. He planned to establish a company based on Looe’s most valuable resource, its day-boat fresh fish, but the fleet abandoned the island for Plymouth, taking the fish with them. Sam is risking everything in an attempt to alter business as usual. He’s skipping the middleman and buying up everything the Toms catch in an effort to secure a fishing career for himself in Looe.

There are rumours that the old fish market is about to reopen as the Toms invest more and more money into fixing the old boat, and a most unexpected ally appears. How much hope for Looe’s once-proud fishing fleet can one family and one boat bring back?

Series 1 Episode 10 of 10

When can we see the episode

Cornwall: This Fishing Life: Series 2 Episode 2 airs Monday 23 October 2023 at 4.15pm on BBC Two

Featured Image Credit: BBC Two