Trawler Wars

The worst storms in decades are lashing the South West coast of England, and the entire fishing fleet of Newlyn and Brixham are stuck in harbour. The entire fleet that is – except one. With a reputation for pushing his boat and his crew Brixham Skipper Antony Shine of the Angel Emiel can't resist taking advantage of rocketing fish prices. Out in the English Channel on his own he could make an absolute killing. Over in the rival port of Newlyn, Skipper Steve Moseley of the Billy Rowney is under pressure to get his crew a wage. But with his hunting grounds the mountainous seas of the Atlantic, will braving the storms to cash in on the record prices be something he lives to regret? With even worse weather predicted the Navy Search and Rescue helicopters based at Culdrose are on high alert, and it’s not long before they receive a distress call.

Top ranked Brixham Skipper Antony Shine on the Angel Emiel is out in a terrible storm making the most of high fish prices. Meanwhile his local rival Geoff Cudd has invested heavily in his new boat the Lady Lou and he’s under pressure to get her out into the storms and make her pay. But will his new boat hold up against the weather, or will his rival Shiny stay out the longest and come back with the biggest haul? Over in Newlyn Don Liddicoat and his 18 year old son Scott are in debt. Their boat the Filadelfia has been stuck in with repairs for the last 6 months. Watching the rest of the fleet clean up has been agony. She’s finally ready to steam out and make some money but Don has his doubts about son Scott’s place on board. But it’s not long before Scott gets a chance prove himself, when a complete engine failure in mountainous seas forces the crew to make a distress call to the coast guard. Fellow Newlyn Skipper Steve Moseley picks up the call, but can he reach the stricken Filadelfia before the worsening weather does?

For the fishing fleets of Newlyn and Brixham it’s the last chance to make some money before Christmas. It’s also the time of year when each harbour crowns its top grossing skipper. In Newlyn, Steve Moseley is once again in contention but gets off to a terrible start, hauling nothing but rocks. Meanwhile Brixham Skipper Antony Shine decides to take his fight to be the top boat out into the ‘racetrack’, the treacherous shipping lanes of the English Channel. Patrolling overhead, the Navy Search and Rescue teams attend a Spanish fisherman who’s gone into anaphylactic shock.

An engine room fire aboard Newlyn trawler the Trevessa has forced all the crew to be airlifted to safety. But before abandoning ship they had to dump £30,000 worth of nets in the sea. Charged with retrieving it from the bottom of the ocean is Skipper Steve Moseley of the Billy Rowney. Getting nine tons of gear on to a wave lashed deck is a treacherous undertaking, but when the weather starts to worsen it begins to look impossible. Meanwhile, the Navy Search and Rescue helicopters at Culdrose help out a submarine, and then race to evacuate a fisherman who’s gone into cardiac arrest.

19 year old Scott Johnstone’s reputation amongst the skippers and crews of Newlyn isn’t great. But his Dad, Don, has managed to persuade the oldest skipper in the fleet, Roger Nowell, to take him for a trip on the Lisa Jacqueline. Roger has seen loads of cocky young deckhands come and go but after a fish throwing incident even he can’t help flying into a rage with Scott. Could this be an end to Scott’s career as a fisherman? On the Lady T Emiel, Skipper Jake Grantham has a permanent position for a new deckhand. Keen to impress are decky learners Antony and Mouse. The boat is a scalloper. It’s tough, unrelenting work and Jake is an unforgiving boss. Neither of the two new recruits get off to a great start, but it goes from bad to worse when Antony blows the boat’s electrics. But then after three days at sea Mouse asks to see the Skipper…

The highly lucrative winter fishing season is coming to an end. The fish are beginning to migrate to deeper waters… Come the summer months the world and his brother will be out chasing fish and prices will drop drastically. There is one last chance for a bumper haul, but for the trawlers of Brixham and Newlyn it means changing their usual hunting grounds and searching further afield. Steve Moseley heads down into French waters, while Brixham skipper Geoff Cudd tries his luck off Newlyn. Antony Shine, who ended last year as Brixham’s top skipper, trawls the Pinnacles, a notorious area of jagged rocky outcrops that can easily snag the boat’s gear and potentially pull it under. Which of the three will find what they are looking for before the season ends? Meanwhile the Navy Search and Rescue helicopter is also searching for something. A fisherman has got a hook in his eye and is in urgent need of hospital treatment. But the boat’s coordinates and where it’s appearing on the radar are not matching.