She Wolf "Jigging" Award
March 2002

Peter Pearman, the skipper of the She Wolf has been granted over £2,000 of Objective 1 Fisheries funding to install jigging machines onto his vessel.

The She Wolf, which lands fish at both Newlyn and Hayle, will install the machines, which are effectively small robots that imitate the 'jigging' action of a fishing line to catch fish.

This relatively new concept to British waters is becoming popular with Cornish fishermen. This is because the machines catch high quality fish, which makes this sustainable method of fishing economically viable for fishermen.

This method of fishing is regarded as "environmentally friendly" because it has little impact on the marine habit; doesn't catch fish when they are breeding; and the fishermen can throw back any fish the don't want, while the fish are still alive. This means that the fish not suitable for the market are returned to the sea unharmed.

The machines also help quality, as the fish is pulled fresh from the sea and iced, rather than left in nets to deteriorate over time.

Alison Elvey, Objective 1 Fisheries Programme Manager added, "It is a great that Objective 1 funding can be used to increase the sustainability of fish stocks, even if only in a small way. More and more fishermen are turning to this type of environmentally friendly fishing gear, which are not only good for stocks but also good for quality."

Peter Pearman, skipper of the She Wolf stated " By going over to jigging machines I shall be able to improve the quality of my catch i.e hand caught fish as against wet fish. Also, I shall be able to select size and the type of fish I want and return unwanted species back to the sea alive, which is very ecological."

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