Botterells FreshFish

John Botterell returned to the sea in 1976, after a spell in the merchant navy, and set up a small commercial fishing operation at Rye Harbour that still runs today under his sons. George takes the boat out along the East Sussex and Kent coast, landing plaice, bass, mackerel, crab, lobster, grey mullet and dogfish, while Jasper, once a boat builder, runs the sales side and staffs stalls at farmers' markets in Wye, Penshurst, Bexley, Groombridge, Chislehurst and Crowborough. Fish is gutted, scaled and filleted to order, and the Botterells also cold-smoke part of the catch. Old lead lines and floats are recycled rather than discarded, and the family collects loose netting and rubbish from the sea as they work.