Richard Donnan

I left school at 16 and immediately  went to work for my father in Plymouth on the mackerel fishery in the late 70s. There I learnt all aspects of shore work including unloading large catches of mackerel  Horse  mackerel and pilchards. I spent some time working aboard my father’s Purse Seiner Quo Vadis A778 learning the art of this complicated but deadly way of catching pelagic fish. I then went to work in Concarneau in Brittany. Where I learned to fillet all different types of fish and different types of freezing and packing fish.

I returned to Whitehaven where I took over the running of the landing buying and selling of fish and prawns landed there. My father also had a factory in whitehaven which produced mackerel fillets and other mackerel products for sale to all over the world. The factory also produced Breaded scampi and other different fish lines for the home market. I was also involved with the construction of the uks largest purse seiner Genesis which was 75m in length.

After my father passed in 1989 I have been involved in buying and selling of all types of marine fish mostly langoustines all landed from the Irish Sea. Lately I had to quit for a while due to heart issues but have had medical assistance  with a pace maker fitted.

I hope that my extensive knowledge  of the UK fishing industry will help the local conservation  Authority going forward.