WEE BOX by the sea

A huge thanks to Archie Millar, secretary of the Fish Salesmen’s Association and the Fraserburgh and District Fishermen’s Benevolent Fund, for helping to organise our WEE BOX appeal visit to the impressive fishing port of Fraserburgh in the North East of Scotland.

We were very warmly welcomed by everyone we met including David Milne, chairman of the Scottish White Fish Association Ltd, Malcolm Noble of Noble Bros - one of Fraserburgh's oldest fish processing companies, Derek Cardno - mate on the impressive Grateful pelagic trawler, Sunrise fishing boat skipper John Stephen and Filipino trawler men Ruben Nava and Lucas Flores.

Our Director Alistair Dutton spent time in the fishing community, sharing stories of the people he met in Cambodia, who we work with, describing how they’ve struggled to feed their families because of the problems such as poverty and illegal fishing. He also learned more about the issues affecting Scottish fishing communities and how Fraserburgh has become a world-renowned fishing port.

It was a great pleasure and a privilege to meet people working in the fishing industry in Fraserburgh and to learn from them.

We were struck by many similarities such as how they manage their fish stocks, how they preserve their catch and make sure they get a decent price at market, and how people working together is often the best way to overcome the issues they face.

In the coming weeks we plan to visit a number of other fishing communities in different parts of Scotland to share the WEE BOX story and hopefully encourage more people to support our life-changing work.

When our staff visit the communities we work with overseas they are often told, “When you go back to Scotland please thank the people who helped us. We know we are not forgotten.” Often, in the worst of times, knowing you’re not forgotten is the most precious thing of all.