UK fisherman, Andy Giles, is set to document a day’s fishing through a series of tweets as part of a new initiative to raise awareness of the complex and dangerous nature of life at sea.
The initiative, dubbed ‘Tweets from the Deep’, is being organised by the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) with the hope of providing the public with a glimpse into an often “misunderstood and misconstrued” industry.
Mr Giles, who has been a fishermen for more than 25 years and is the proud skipper of a 15m trawler Guiding Light III, will be providing an insight into his working life and will be answering questions put to him by fish lovers from across the country.
He says he hopes to demonstrate some of the hurdles fishermen have to jump through just to put fish on the nation’s plate. “With the vast amount of rules and regulations governing our industry, often there are huge amounts of pressure on us to monitor and record our catch, especially toward the end of the month when we’re running out of quota,” he said.
A normal working day for Mr Giles starts at 3am when he has to travel to Brixham or Plymouth before heading up to 20 miles out to sea in search of lemon sole, haddock, monkfish or sea bass. It can be a long day for the Cornish fisherman who sometimes doesn’t get home until 9pm.
The event will take place Wednesday 14 August 2013 to celebrate National Fishing Month (19 July to 26 August).
To put your questions to Mr Giles, tweet @NFFO_UK using the hashtag #FishTales.
