She Sells Shellfish

Went to this, part of the Fishguard Food Festival week.
A short film plus a panel of three to discuss issues raised and to answer questions.

The film (not online but some stills from it here) is by a young local film maker (whose parents were sitting behind us - they live in our son's village). It features the  ambitions and thoughts of a young woman, Meg,  who was inspired to establish a small start-up enterprise called Câr-y-Môr * on the Pembrokeshire coast to culture, promote and market marine products, specifically shell fish and edible seaweed. Her family's been in the fishing business for years but there's no longer a market for the small-scale traditional catch.

Shot in Super8 film,  the  black&white footage looks old-fashioned,  and i harks back to, and includes, historic images of  women in shawls and long skirts collecting cockles and seaweed in baskets and loading them  on to pony carts to take to market on the South Wales coast. And indeed another theme of the film focuses on the present-day sellers of marine  products such as Carol, still womanning a thriving seafood stall in Swansea market. In fact I blipped her here five years ago (thank you Blipfoto!) Carol and her whole family have been in this trade for generations and she has plenty to say about it.

After the film, the film maker (Lily), another member of the start-up (Ella) and our lovely local marine biologist (Lloyd), talked about  different aspects of the film and issues arising - the shoestring budget which means that the people involved put in a huge amount of work for very little financial reward, the issues around pollution, sustainability and low fish stocks, how to market the products and encourage people  to buy local rather than from supermarkets, the environmental benefits of the enterprise and the hope that this  community start-up and others like it will eventually provide much-needed employment  for local folk. You can buy shares it it - from £1 to £10000!

 
*  "Câr-y-Môr is committed to starting the first commercial seaweed and shellfish farm in Wales, to motivate and inspire others to duplicate. This zero input farming uses no fertiliser, pesticides, or freshwater. Our goal is to improve the coastal environment and the well-being of the local community. We aim to stimulate jobs and giving people a route into the Welsh seafood sector, an industry of growing national importance."