L-R Drecky Fish: Andrew Stevens, Francis Harris and Kevin Penney
Newlyn based fishermen Kevin, Francis and Andrew’s top priority is to achieve the best price for their catch. To add value and get maximum return to maintain a career in the local fishing industry, they decided to explore new digital grounds and ideas.
The group started to sell their fish (hake, herring), and shellfish (brown crab and lobster) on-line, enabling them to increase their customer base and communicate directly with consumers.
The fishermen developed a simple website linking to facebook and twitter. The ground-breaking innovation came from the use of twitter @Drecklyfish, when they started reporting ‘live’ what was being caught, allowing following customers to track and bid immediately.
Demand grew and they soon reached the limit of their supply capacity, having to turn down customers. To face this and carry on with their innovative way of fishing and selling, @Drecklyfish decided to scale up operations and introduce a project to the local Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG).
Chris Ranford, Cornwall Rural Community Council (CRCC), in partnership with Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) and Cornwall Development Company, actively engages with fishing communities to create, develop and deliver FLAG and other European Fisheries Funded (EFF) projects. Chris worked with @Drecklyfish and the financial support from FLAG was confirmed. This enabled the fishermen to acquire the necessary shore based equipment, such as scales, ice making facilities, packing and banding machinery along with equipping the team with tablets and undergo specific IT training to master new communication tools.
Chris is based at the Seafood Cornwall Training Centre in Newlyn and also visits different ports and harbours each week. He is available to all interested businesses, community groups and individuals looking to initiate a project.
