A new online film exploring and celebrating Peel’s relationship with its fishing industry has been released. The 21-minute film, Spuds and Herring, by Neil Corlett, combines archive footage of Peel in the 1960s, harbourside interviews with older people involved in the industry, and footage shot on a number of vessels over the past year.
Supported by a grant awarded in 2022 as part of the Culture Vannin 40th anniversary celebrations, Spuds and Herring begins with memories of the heyday of the industry in Peel, when ‘it was possible to walk from one side of the harbour to the other across the fishing boats’.
After explaining how the fishing connected to other parts of the wider industry, the film goes on to chart the changes to the industry, culminating in an exploration of the experiences of those at sea today.
The film features interviews with Alan Crellin, Albert Frost, Maynard Campbell, Paul
Desmond, Dr David Beard, Alan Woodridge, Craig Woodbridge, Steven Lee, Rhys Byrne, and Fishing News Awards Trainee Fisherman of the Year 2022 Isla Gale. Poignantly, it also includes interviews with Sam Morrison, who sadly passed away before the film was completed.
“The motivation to make the film was that I wanted to find out more about the role the fishing industry had played in the Isle of Man in general and in Peel, where I now live, in particular,” Neil Corlett told Fishing News.
“I have watched the boats heading in and out every day for years, and was keen to know more about what actually goes on when they are out at sea.
“I have also interviewed many old Manx characters through my work with Culture Vannin, and knew that there would be some great stories to be uncovered from some of the fishermen who had been going out on the boats when the industry was at its peak.”
Neil Corlett, who went out on a number of vessels over the course of a year, capturing footage by hand and drone, said that the film is important in that it can ‘hopefully teach us that we have to work in a sustainable way for the industry to have a future’.
“It is also a great record of how and why the fishing industry has changed in Peel over several decades,” he told FN.
“It shows the beauty of the Isle of Man, and I hope that I have told the story in a way that is interesting and engaging for people with no prior knowledge of the industry.”
Spuds and Herring is available to view below…
