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The long arc of the North Sea coast is strung with fishing ports. Pink and brown shrimps from the Wash fisheries are landed at King’s Lynn, while a small but active fleet fishes for whelks from Wells-next-the-Sea. Nowhere can compete with Cromer’s small but sweet, fleshy crabs.
At Lowestoft, the busiest fishing port in the region, the bulk of the catch is made up of sprats, cod, skate, sole and dogfish. In the shallow creeks of the Rivers Colne and Blackwater, in Essex, fine oysters are still raised in beds first established by the Romans. Leigh-on-Sea, on the Thames estuary, is renowned for its cockles.
Yarmouth was once home to the world’s largest herring fishery. At the peak of the industry, over a thousand vessels landed 125,000 tonnes of herring. Cured within 24 hours, the kippers, bloaters and red herrings were exported across the world. The town’s one remaining smokehouse keeps this traditional industry alive.
The coast doesn’t just provide a wealth of fish and shellfish. At Maldon, in Essex, crystals of pure sea salt are panned from the highly saline seawater of the surrounding marshes. Another delicacy of the salt-marshes is samphire, a succulent plant that grows between the high and low water marks.
