The fishy history of Grimsby’s ports

Grimsby's fishing docks and market. Photo: Roger Damm

Grimsby's fishing docks and market. Photo: Roger Damm

Grimsby is linked worldwide with the sea fishing industry, which once gave the town much of its wealth.  

 In the late 1800s the fishing fleet was greatly expanded. In a rare reversal of the usual trends, large numbers of fishermen from the South-East and Devon travelled North to join the Grimsby fleet.

During the Second World War many fishing boats were used as warships, and then converted back to trawlers in 1945.

 Grimsby reached its peak in the 1950s being the largest and busiest fishing port in the world.

 As a result of the on-going Cod Wars with Iceland,  the industry went into decline for many years.  The cod wars were a series of controntations throughout the lates 50s until the the mid 70s concerning fishing territories.

However, today Grimsby is still home to the largest fish market in the UK, although most sold there is now bought overland.  

Grimsby is recognised as the main centre of the UK fish processing industry. In recent years, this expertise has led to diversification into all forms of frozen and chilled foods including being the home of Young’s Seafood.  Consequently the town is one of the single largest centres of fish processing in Europe.

Grimsby Traditonal Smoked Fish  

Media interest has focused around Grimsby Traditional Smoked Fish and the product being awarded a Protected Geographical Indication by the European Union.

The process used for this particular smoked fish relies on the traditional natural method of slow smoking instead of the more widely used mechanical method.

Holding PGI status means any producers who wish to call their product Grimsby Traditional Smoked Fish must abide by strict quality standards established by the Grimsby Traditional Fish Smokers Group.

Lincolnshire to be home to US style mega dairy

Dairy cows
There are plans for nearly 4,000 dairy cows at the factory farm. Photo: CETFA

There are plans for nearly 4,000 dairy cows at the factory farm. Photo: CETFA

As you may have heard, Nocton Dairies are planning to introduce a mass dairy farm at Nocton Heath, Lincolnshire. Originally the company planned to have 8,100 cows, which has since been reduced to 3,770 to apparently “address environmental concerns”.

Nocton Dairies however plan to eventually raise this starting figure to the original 8,100 according to Compassion in World Farming.

Compassion in World Farming are one of the many organisations battling against the proposed plans,  believing that “cows belong in fields”. They argue that the cows are being expected to produce 43% more milk than the national average, at a stunning 10,000 litres of milk per year. The energy required to yield this much milk is equivalent to a human running half a marathon every day for 10 months.

Celebrity chefs are also getting involved in the argument. Raymond Blanc, owner and chef at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Oxfordshire, has written a blog post slamming the plans. In the post he says “The quality of milk produced so intensively is not as good as milk from grass-fed cows. There’s no need to argue about this – just do the comparison yourself.”

“But the real reasons for opposing these huge industrial dairies is the welfare of the animals, for which the consumer has to take some responsibility.”

If the plans went ahead then the price of milk would be driven down to such a level that smaller farmers could not compete; thus changing the whole system of farming in the UK.

The plans are certainly controversial, and for the time being nothing has been approved, but where do you stand?