Location – South West fish, Newlyn seafront, Newlyn Experts – Richard Ead and Nick Howell Participants – Katie Price, Ben Cook, Radley Cook, Otis Purchase, Anne Szoka Malcolm Pooley, Rose Pooley, Daniel Morton and Kerrie Trevenna
Richard Ead is the last living person able to make and use traditional Cornish withy pots for lobster fishing. The pots are said to catch many more lobster than today’s steel and plastic pots and are also much more sustainable and kinder to the ocean.
The process takes approximately five hours and in the summer time the withies, which come from Somerset, have to be soaked for a week beforehand.
Richard Ead was taught to make the pots by a fisherman in 1964, and it took him over a year of practice until his pots were workable, he is keen to pass on his skill before the tradition dies out entirely.
The group of participants worked on one pot together each adding new pieces under Richard’s direction, they also met with Nick Howell, previous owner of the Cornish Pilchard Works who talked about fishing and the fishing industry in Newlyn.
