Fixed prices with Plymouth’s ethical fish business

An ethical fishmonger business has been set up in Plymouth by Caroline Bennett who 20 years ago established London’s first rotating sushi restaurant – which is still going strong. In establishing Sole of Discretion in one of the units on the quay at Plymouth, she intends to focus on supplying ethically-sourced fish, as well as giving the fishermen landing to her a better share of the profits.

Caroline Bennett set up Sole of Discretion in Plymouth to supply London restaurants and a local organic veg box supplier.

She said that the idea was sparked when she met Chris Bean at a Slow Food festival some years ago, and grew from there until a Community Interest Company (CIC) was set up, with the aim of the shares being wholly-owned by the fishermen.

“We’re only working with under-10m boats, working static-gear and handlines, although we expect we’ll have to deal with some boats fishing with lightweight trawl gear,” she said.

So far, Sole of Sole of Discretion has been working with netter Graham Searle, who runs the Emma Louise, and Aaron Lidstone who fishes with lines from his Cheetah catamaran Happy Days, and much of the company’s production has gone to an organic veg box supplier, as well as supplying a group of London restaurants.

Caroline Bennett of ethical fishmonger Sole of Discretion and Aaron Lidstone, skipper of line boat Happy Days.

“We agree prices with the organic box supplier, based on the market prices,” she said, commenting that the fluctuations in fish prices are something that the customer finds difficult to cope with. “They say they don’t understand how people can do business without knowing what their prices are going to be in advance.”

But this has worked out well. The prices are agreed quarterly, although the customer would prefer them to be fixed for a year ahead, and the fishermen are in the unusual position of knowing in advance what their fish will make. Caroline Bennett commented that they have also stuck with Sole of Discretion, even when prices on the auction have been higher.

For some species, Sole of Discretion is able to offer much higher prices than are elsewhere, such as for pouting, that fetches between 30p and £1.50 per kilo at auction, and for which she is able to pay £2 per kilo.

“We’re keen on the less popular fish, such as pouting. Nobody guts these as they make such little money, and pouting fall to pieces. But we found that when it is gutted and looked after, it’s a perfectly good meaty fish,” she said.

Sole of Discretion’s production is blast frozen and stored to make it possible to smooth out seasonal variations, and the plan is also to set up a retail outlet at the quayside unit, probably opening next spring.

“I’ve been actively sourcing good quality fish for my restaurants for years, and there are fishermen there taking care of the quality of their catch and fishing with environmental sensitivity. But they get the same market prices as everyone else – and many are on the verge of giving up,” she said, commenting that the mainstream supply chain can slow down the delivery of fish, and many fish counters can’t tell customers when their fish was landed, or by which boat – sometimes even in which country. All this is what Sole of Discretion aims to stay clear of, with everything traceable back to the boat and the day each fish was caught.

“Now word is getting around, and we expect to cap this with five to seven fishermen supplying Sole of Discretion, on the basis of having a small number of fishermen and we take everything they land – and the organic box supplier is very keen on locally-sourced fish,” she said.

“The idea is that we are able to reward fishermen with better prices for their fish, and we wanted to have guaranteed quality from smaller boats, not from the big destructive trawlers, and we work with skipper-owners, not with slipper skippers who haven’t been to sea for years.”

Caroline Bennett said that Dave and Alison Pessell at Plymouth Trawler Agents have been very supportive of the venture, and this was one of the reasons for choosing Plymouth, not least because of the strong working relationship that PTA has with the local fishermen.

Fair Prices

Taking ice for the Happy Days’ next trip.

Aaron Lidstone fishes with a variety of hooks and lines from his Cheetah catamaran Happy Days and is one of the two Plymouth fishermen landing to Sole of Discretion. Happy Days is his fifth boat and was delivered last year, now that he has worked his way up from the Starfish 8 he started out with eight years ago.

He works rod and line for mackerel and some whitefish, and shoots a few longlines in the autumn for ray and conger.

“I hope for a bit of turbot as well, but have yet to find one,” he said, adding that he works mainly mid-Channel wrecks for cod, ling and pollack, but the inconsistency of the bass fishery discourages him from chasing bass.

“If there’s a big tide and there are a few fish running, I’ll have a go,” he said, commenting that the relationship with Sole of Discretion has developed well.

“I’m happy to land fish to Caroline, and it’s good to know exactly what I need to catch to make what I want to earn. Sole of Discretion pays a fair, agreed price. Sometimes I can land to Caroline when I could have made more on the auction – but then the next day the price can be on the floor and Caroline still pays the same fair price.”