An inspirational young fisherman from Ilfracombe in North Devon is fast becoming the
voice for the future of fishing in the UK. Ben Bengey's charm and passion for his
work make him the perfect young ambassador for the industry.
Ben features in a new short film - A Life in the Day of a Young Fisherman - one
episode in a ten part series of five minute documentaries on the people whose lives
revolve around boats and fishing in North Devon.
Ben understands the importance of sustainability in his work and wants to share this
with others. In September Ben took his film to London for the launch of Blue New
Deal, an initiative from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and explains "It was
about UK coastal communities and the jobs and people behind it all. So I went to
talk about fishing and tell people that fisherman are not as bad as the news shows
and we do put things in place to stop overfishing, like the ray box and the Trevose
box."
One scene in "A Life in the Day of a Young Fisherman" shows Ben returning a lobster
to the sea despite it being within the legal size for keeping. He says he'd "rather
put it back... may have kids... grow a bit bigger" and adds "I don't see any reason
to keep 'em. You're just messing with your own future, to be honest".
Ben lives and breathes a life on the sea - at just 19 he has his own boat, Silver
Spirit, which is licensed for both commercial fishing and passengers so when he's
not out potting for lobsters and crabs (or volunteering for the RNLI) he's running
fishing trips and he spends his spare time on his boat fishing with his mates for
the sheer pleasure of it. He sums up his film with the words " I just want to be
out on the water, every day, every hour."
Boat Stories Producer, Jo Stewart-Smith says "Right from the beginning I wanted to
make a film about a young fisherman starting out - who was serious about making a go
of it in this tough, fickle, roller coaster business. It's not a choice many
youngsters make - there are far easier ways of making a living. But as someone wrote
after watching our film 'Ben is following his dream and making a go of it.'
The Boat Stories films are a valuable way of informing people about the fishing
industry, Ben says "It's really good as like I said on the news (ITV Westcountry
interviewed Ben to launch Boat Stories as a web series) people don't have a clue
what we do and it's great to show people!"
You can watch Ben's film and read more about him and his work on the Boat Stories
website www.boatstories.co.uk.
