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With fewer than 100 fishermen now working across the Bailiwick, a charity is hoping to help any who may be dealing with financial strain or other struggles.
The Fishermen’s Mission supports active and former fishermen, sea-going staff working in the aquaculture industry, and migrant fishermen, as well as their families.
Hayley Hamlett is the Mission Area Officer for the South East of England and the Channel Islands.
Through the Fishermen’s Mission, she is able to arrange financial grants to support fishermen and their families during difficult times. They can also access medical treatment through the charity. Ms Hamlett also offers emotional support and can signpost fishermen and their families to other organisations which may be able to help them.
Ms Hamlett has been in position since early last year and has already made one visit, to Jersey. This time round she’ll be in Guernsey too.
She says the charity knows there are fishermen - and their families - who need this support and she is hoping to ensure access is secured during a visit to the islands in April.
"I'm going to do a whole afternoon on the 25th of April where I will be at the Yacht Club in Guernsey for people to come along and have a chat, and that can be anyone at all. I'll be there from about one o'clock till four. I'm just going to be there because I think it's important for any charities in Guernsey that deal with people, the cost of living, anything, to come and see me. They can make reach out to me, and I should probably be there a little bit on Friday as well.
"At the beginning of the week, I shall do the same in the sailing club at Jersey.
"Anybody can come and have a chat with me if they feel that there's fishermen in need or they themselves want to know a bit more about what we do."
The latest data available for the Bailiwick shows that 472 people are employed across ‘agriculture, horticulture, fishing, and quarrying’.
Of those, at last count (September 2023) there were 76 fishermen in total – 64 of whom are self-employed and 12 are employed.
The data available through gov.gg shows the 'agriculture, horticulture, fishing, and quarrying' sector has grown slightly in recent years as 472 is the highest number of employees combined across the four industries since 2009. However, those working in agriculture, horticulture, fishing, and quarrying, are paid (on average) below Guernsey’s median earnings.
The island’s median earnings for the year ending 30 September 2023 were £40,918.
Median earnings for people working in agriculture, horticulture, fishing, and quarrying during the same year was £34,162 according to States statistics.
If their earnings are linked to their catch size then there are statistics to show some of those are in decline which may affect fishermen's income in particular.
Ms Hamlett knows some fishermen she works with elsewhere have really struggled during the cost of living crisis and she wants to extend the help available to any Bailiwick fishermen who may also be facing trying times.
"Along with the generational fishermen, they might be really struggling at the moment when their dads and their dad's dads probably had it really, really good because of the way things have changed.
"It's not all about legislation," she said. "It's global warming too."
Pictured: Fishing boats moored at the Fish Quay in St Peter Port.
"The waters are warmer, the seals are coming in and stealing the fish, so it's about species changes, it's not all about other stuff. There is an element of the whole industry shifting, but when you get a generational fisherman that's struggling, he's got the pride aspect as well.
"He's got the fact that his dad was doing really well, granddad was doing really well, and he's really struggling. There's a whole different issue there.
"Sometimes the boat has been handed down as well as the stories and it's a real learning curve."
For fishermen who are struggling financially, there is monetary support available - and that's not just limited to their work, said Ms Hamlett.
Having been to Jersey already, Ms Hamlett said she speaks to some of the fishermen in Jersey regularly, and she has built a relationship up with them where they now know they can ask for help or support when they need it.
"...there is a real sense of them knowing that we're here, and it has given them that kind of supportive network, they don't feel like they're just hanging out on their own because we only deal with fishermen, and that's kind of what I'm trying to mirror across the other islands because they move around."
Ms Hamlett says for any fishermen or their families who do not want direct contact she can give them the support they may need via WhatsApp, email, or Facebook too,
"It's not necessarily something that needs to be discussed over the phone because quite often fishermen are very private, and they don't want their colleagues to know that they're struggling so they talk to me a lot via WhatsApp," she said.
"Sometimes it's a photograph of their catch and just a kind of quick banter. Sometimes it's a much more in depth conversation about where they are mental health wise, what they're struggling with financially, or they know that there's a situation coming where the vessel is going to be out of the water and they're not going to earn money, and they're worried about their rent or whatever. It could be all sorts of conversations and that's really what I'm trying to build.
"They may mistakenly think The Fisherman's Mission is all about religion and things like that and we're so much more than that."
Pictured: Fishing boats anchored in St Peter Port Harbour at the Fish Quay.
"What we can do in most cases for a fisherman, or a former fisherman - and they could have fished, I don't know 15 years ago for for a year and we can still help them, so it doesn't have to be somebody who's currently fishing. It could be, as I said, a retired, former, or active fisherman. It can be a wife of a fisherman and it can be a widow of a fisherman and it can also be their children up to 18. So there's a lot of support, and that's why the first thing to do is to always get in contact."
Ms Hamlett gave some examples of recent cases where she has helped fishermen and their families.
"One man called me, 'Haley, I need a new mattress because my mattress is falling apart, can you help me?' Yes, we can. We can buy a new mattress.
"It can be, I'm really behind on my rent and I'm really worried about the fact that I'm gonna be made homeless, and I don't know where to go for help.
"Very often fishermen don't have the same ability to have dental appointments or doctor's appointments, because if the weather's good, they're out. It's the same if it's a children's assembly, or a scan for a pregnancy or anything like that, anything joyful that you and I take for granted that we can go to, they can't because if the weather is good, they're out.
"So there's a lot of emotional reaction. There's a lot of anxiety."
Any fishermen or their families wanting to find out more about the help The Fishermen's Mission can provide just need to contact Ms Hamlett.
"The first thing is that they contact me, and we would have a chat. And then once we've ascertained that we can help, very often it's more complex so we would do a form with them.
"That form would tell me in a nutshell where we're going to go and how we're going to help them. If it's funding this, or if it's another way. If it's funding that, if it's funding something to do with their children's education like a new laptop or after school classes, I've even funded animal therapy.
"These are things that will come from one different organisation or a grant provider. Another grant provider might help with health issues if they need funding for mobility scooters or anything to do with health and well being, and there's a different path for people who are planning a funeral or anything like that.
"So the one form, the fisherman doesn't have to complete it. I complete it. I just ask the questions and once it's complete, that leads me to the grant providers, and it's very bespoke, depending on that individual's need."
Pictured: A fishing boat heading out this week.
When Ms Hamlett is over in April she'll be liaising with Richard Keen who many fishermen will know.
She hopes this will enable her to meet as many of the local crews as she can.
"What I tend to do is say to them 'have you ever heard about the Mission?' They'll either say 'yes, I have', and usually they have and they think it's all church related, or they haven't and they haven't got a clue."
Ms Hamlett is keen to learn more about the local fishing industry while she's here so she can determine future needs for the charity's services too.
Hayley Hamlett, Mission Area Officer for The Fishermen's Mission for the South East of England and the Channel Islands can be contacted:
Via email - hayleyhamlett@fishermensmission.org.uk
Via Whatsapp - +44 7827 965243
Via Facebook - HERE
The Fishermen's Mission: Supporting our fishermen and their families
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