Catch of the day Fishing of the Cornish coast, skipper Peter Bullock, from our fsh supplier Riddlers, uses traditional ring nets and modern sonar equipment to catch only the best quality sardines. We went to meet him…
FACT FILE
l Family-run company Riddlers
is based in Newton Abbot, Devon. l Riddlers goes back to the 1920s.
In 2009, it was taken over by Ocean Fish, founded by father and son Andrew and Edward Lakeman in 1989. This family fshing company now employs 80 people. They’ve been working with us since 2009. l Newlyn, the main Cornish harbour Riddlers uses, handles vessels from trawlers to small mackerel day boats, like the Resolute and The Asthore (the largest ring netter in the UK). l Riddlers holds the MSC Chain of Custody – this means the company meets the environmental standard for sustainable fsh.
In Cornwall, fshing is very much a way of life. Every day in the main fshing season, boats set of from harbours all around the Cornish coast with fsherman on board using their years of experience to help them fnd the very best fsh you can catch. The market is very demanding. The South-west has some of the UK’s best fsh restaurants – from Rick Stein’s fsh empire in Padstow, to Nathan Outlaw’s at St Enodoc Hotel in Rock – and, like us, top chefs are looking for a supply of fresh, great-quality fsh. There’s a long history of sardine fshing in Cornwall – in fact there was a pilchard fshery there as far back as the 1800s (pilchards and sardines are the same fsh, with diferent names). Then, the traditional way of catching sardines was labour intensive and the fsh was often poor quality. All that has changed. The stock
18 | ASDA.COM/MAGAZINE | AUGUST 2014
Riddlers used to fsh out of Mevagissey harbour, above of Cornish sardines is healthy, sustainable and accredited, and it’s a brilliant product. And we’re delighted to be working with Riddlers, the company which supplies our sardines, using modern techniques to bring fshing into the 21st century. But there’s a lot that happens before that fsh lands on your plate…