Cornwall: This Fishing Life

Whilst other fishing communities are feeling the pinch, Mevagissey on Cornwall's south coast bucks the trend. Can the next generation of young skippers make a go of it?

It is summer, the sardine run is on and the ring-netters of Newlyn are on the hunt. Rebranded as Cornish Sardines, the pilchard fishery has grown into a multi-million-pound industry.

As change comes to a quiet corner of Cornwall, brother and sister Jason and Nicky are risking it all and changing from sail boat to trawler.

A look at the smaller boats that fish off Cornwall's coast, often with only a single crew member. Despite being a sustainable method of fishing, this traditional approach is coming under threat from industrialisation, a lack of new talent taking up the trade, and declining stocks of mackerel and other once common fish. In Penberth, James is the only fisherman under 65 - and since traditional methods rely on boats supporting each other, he may have to give up when the older generation retires. On the Helford River, a veteran fisherman shares his concerns for the fish processing industry if Britain leaving the EU leads to a decline in foreign labour.

As autumn comes to Cornwall, the biggest boats fish through turbulent times offshore. But with Brexit looming, what does the future hold for these big old boats and their crews?