The Fishermans Apprentice With Monty Halls

Cadgwith on the south coast of Cornwall is one of the last traditional fishing coves in the UK. Small boats are launched off the beach as they have been since Medieval times. Marine biologist Monty Halls travels down to Cadgwith to live and work as a fisherman, to find out what's really involved in getting seafood onto our plates. As his apprenticeship continues, he learns more about the situation facing our traditional fishing fleet.

In this episode he goes it alone and soon learns that making a living as an inshore fisherman is a lot harder than he thought. A bout of violent sea sickness puts the whole project in jeopardy.

In rough seas, he heads out to work on the biggest crabber on the coast, the Harvester, which has 1800 crab pots. And he discovers that while the British have no appetite for his tasty Cornish spider crabs, the French cannot get enough of them.

This time he heads out into the Atlantic, on a 90ft deep-sea trawler. For eight days and nights, working round the clock, Monty discovers what impact these boats are having on the marine environment.

Marine biologist Monty Halls has seen the problems UK fishermen face - now he wants to look for solutions. He heads out to sea with one of Cornwall's most successful skippers, to uncover the secret of his success. And he travels to the USA and discovers a revolutionary way of supporting traditional fishermen.

Monty's time as a traditional inshore fisherman in Cornwall is coming to an end. Before he leaves, Monty wants to see if an idea from the USA could help the fishermen by selling fresh, seasonal produce direct to local consumers. Monty will have to convince the skippers to work in a new way - and the local people to try new species of fish. With Christmas just around the corner, the whole project is thrown into jeopardy when a massive winter storm rolls in off the Atlantic, preventing the fishermen and Monty from getting out to sea.