Starlight Rays – Whitefish
With such a beautiful and varied coastline, Scotland boasts some of the best fish and seafood species in Europe. Fishing in Scotland is a way of life and can often be dangerous and unpredictable. Nevertheless, the hard work, extraordinary dedication and passion shown is so remarkable that we decided to delve a little deeper.
At just 24m long, the Starlight Rays, a whitefish trawler operating out of Peterhead, can withstand some pretty rough seas and gale-force winds in order to get the best catches from the deep waters off the north east coast of Scotland. The Starlight Rays has a crew of 6, including skipper James Thores and his eldest son Scott. The boat is only 5 years old but has already been refitted with the latest food safe handling facilities.
With over 30 years experience, James and the crew are passionate about conservation and sustainability, fishing with the largest mesh size net in Europe to ensure the escape of any juvenile or immature, fish and avoiding grounds where immature fish are abundant.
Realising that the demand for high quality and ethically sourced produce is now strong in the fish and seafood industry, James teamed up with M&J Seafood to search for a solution that would ensure these demands could be met.
The idea: Responsible Fishing Scheme accredited vessels would reserve the freshest catch on ice from their last day at sea, for M&J Seafood. By hand grading and packing fewer fish per kilo ensuring pristine quality, this idea allowed M&J Seafood to market a sustainably caught, premium quality product, with complete traceability. The crew would then contact M&J Seafood (by satellite phone) to list the species caught in the final haul.
M&J Seafood could then pass this information onto their customers so they could reserve fish in advance for their menus. Species in the catch could include pollack, haddock, cod, monkfish and perhaps a few glistening red mullet. Branded ‘Scottish Skippers’, the idea later became the now well-known ‘British Skippers Scheme’ following its huge success.
