INTERVIEWS
Local Fishermen share their memories of fishing in Worthing …
The last full time fishermen stopped working on Worthing’s beach in 2015 and their heritage, traditions and small scale fishing techniques are disappearing fast.
It has never been more urgent to preserve Worthing’s fishing heritage by recording and sharing the memories and experiences of the town’s long time fishing families.
We were lucky enough to interview many of Worthing’s last fisherman in 2017 and can document their experiences here, for posterity.
Interview clips
Norman Bashford aboard his boat.
WHY DID WE DO IT?
The Last Fisherman Standing ran from November 2016 to July 2018 and included a schools outreach programme in early 2017, a mini fishing pop up museum, an exhibition trail as well as sculptural interpretation along the seafront, a booklet and trail maps tracing the fishing trade across our town. We also be offered monthly fish cookery classes, teaching people how to prepare and cook different types of fish, all sourced from fishermen in Sussex.
We hope that this exciting project will really make a difference to the lives of our remaining fishermen and their families. As a disappearing industry, it is vital to ensure that we have captured, shared and preserved Worthing’s fishing heritage to generate greater awareness and appreciation of the wealth of our fishing heritage, a stronger involvement with and celebration of the work of the fishermen, and a drive to support our maritime fishing industries.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Buy local, sustainable fish – see are must have guide here.
Follow the Last Fisherman Standing Heritage Trail – see our Trail map here.
