FISHING: IN WATERs OFF CORNWALL AND THE SCILLY ISLES

Inspired by marine fishers along the southwest coast // Photography by Jon Tonks // Poetry by Chris Redmond // Exhibited with Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol

COMING APRIL 2025

We have lived in balance with our oceans for millennia, but the bounties of our blue planet are ebbing. Photographer Jon Tonks has been documenting his encounters with the marine fishing world, and those trying to act more sustainably in waters off Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, soon to be exhibited at Martin Parr Foundation in collaboration with We Feed The UK.

Will, 19, line fishes from his skiff out of Newlyn harbour. David, 50, ring-nets anchovies on a small boat. His father taught him to fish aged 10, and still meets David at the harbour when his boat comes in. Then there’s Bill, who has seen 50 years of change – the cod are moving north these days, he says, because of rising sea temperatures.

Climate change is only adding pressure to that from the tidal wave of giant vessels; these are devastating populations and habitats through overfishing, bycatch and bottom trawling, legitimised by laws that spawn profit rather than sustainability.

There are the species above water to consider, too. Sustenance, livelihoods and cultures all fed by the sea. Jon photographs Tom Bawcock’s Eve in Cornwall, when local people share ‘stargazy pie’ to celebrate a famine-ending catch in the 16th century. Chris writes of those who still throw pilchards to the birds, in thanks for guiding boats to the shoals before sonar washed up. And of puffins starving for lack of the sand eels that have been overfished and fed to chickens.

The answer to how we better sustain communities of life, on and off shore, might be murky. But this honest insight exposes a system sunk by human greed, and floats ideas for turning the tide.

“I would love it if people felt inspired, to reflect on their own choices and consider, even for a moment, their power and potential, as part of the systems in which we live.”
Chris Redmond, Hot Poet

SUSTAINABLE MARINE FISHING IN THE PRESS

Mel Osborne of BBC Radio Cornwall featured Hot Poet, Chris Redmond, diving into some of the UK’s most sustainable marine fishing practices. Listen now and uncover how Cornish fisherfolk are working to replace a broken system with one that considers sustenance, livelihoods, and our planet.