"LIFE IS TREASURE
LIFE IS TRASH
LIFE IS COMMODITY"
Brixham Chimes
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Verse loves to be read out loud - it's an act that has its roots in ancient oral history. Tim Harris - celebrated South Devon musician - has created a cinematic soundtrack to accompany the verse in this Audio Book. Hear Tim talk about the process of composing to the story of 'Brixham Chimes'-
BRIXHAM CHIMES
Brixham Chimes is a lament to the destructive power of the Beam Trawler, the relentless pursuit of profit and a call for another way.
This novella in verse is set amidst the landmarks and characters of Brixham - South Devon's historic fishing port. But it's also a universal story - familiar to every coastal community across the British Isles and beyond.
Brixham Chimes is a long-form poem of lie and its consequence - that we can take, take and take some more without undoing the world. At the heart of the book sound the ‘chimes’- warning of the loss of connection between ourselves and the sea. It exposes the fallacy of a modern world obsessed with mechanical extraction at any cost. It's a requiem to vanishing fish and fishing communities .
Brixham Chimes comes from the creator and writer of Sky Atlantic’s series ‘Fish Town’. Jim Funnell lives and writes in South Devon and tries hard not to venture too far from the sea.
AN EPIC POEM - A STORY OF LIFE & LOSS WITH BRIXHAM AT ITS HEART
Brixham Chimes inhabits the tradition of epic British poems stretching from Anglo-Saxon times to Under Milk Wood. Its scope encompasses disappearing communities, the destruction of nature and the loss of our own selves. The verse meditates on the vanished places - such as the irreplaceable Maritime Inn - and the vanishing life-spirit of The Sea. Its verse resonates with vivid imagery of harbour and fish quay, imbuing a local story with a global impact and relevance. The formidable rock of Berry Head broods throughout the narrative, a counter motif to Brixham's stepped alleyways and harbour amphitheatre of pastel coloured houses.
The poem is a journey through time, a requiem to our fishing heritage, and the loss of our precious connection with the sea.
And through it all run the instantly recognisable sounds and sights of Brixham...
BERRY HEAD HILL FORT
The cliff top of Berry Head is the iconic location for the opening scene. This is Brixham in the 18th Century. A tumult of life heaves in the waters below; a pilchard shoal is fished by men, gulls and dolphin. A broken hearted young woman in white casts off her ring and a farewell note to the world. She hurls herself from Berry Head. Her final moments are a rush through the future. Her descent to meet the waters below send her - first - into the Brixham of the near present, and then further - into a future world of climatic and environmental catastrophe.
BRIXHAM FISH MARKET
Brixham Chimes is a celebration of the incredible marine life that has sustained our coastal communities for centuries. But the poem also portrays devastation caused to feed Brixham's Fish Market. The poem is haunted throughout by the spectre of Industrial Fishing. The verse portrays the aching sadness of the scraped and dredged fish - the 'treasure' and the 'trash'- the sought-after and the discarded. And as scarcity of fish brings ever larger profits, the pursuit of fish- at any cost- throws the story ever onwards, through an unfolding ecological tragedy.
THE BELLS OF ST MARY'S & ALL SAINTS
Brixham's churches play an important role in the poem. They represent continuity, a connection with the past. But they also sound the chimes - reminders of things and people lost. As the young woman who threw herself from Berry Head meets the sea itself, the poem takes us into a darker future of climate and nature catastrophe. It is a future of hunger, of smoke and of hopelessness. It is the old church Priest who, at the end, must confront the ragged congregation and meet their starving eyes. How to mark Evolution's ending with mere words?
SCRAPING THE BOTTOM: BRIXHAM AND OUR FISHING TOWNS HELD HOSTAGE BY INDUSTRIAL FISHING
Industrial Fishing is here - and it's well established in the UK. Using methods that have a high negative impact on the marine ecosystem, Industrial Fishing is hugely profitable. It is equally damaging - to marine life as well as coastal communities.
All along our coasts it is the same story: just a few companies hold the rights to most of the fish in our waters, with local, smaller scale fishers who use less harmful methods, unable to compete.
Thanks to devastating industrial fishing methods the complex web of marine ecology off our UK coast has not just been unpicked- its had a bulldozer driven through it. We are encouraged to look away, and beguiled by the tropes around 'farmers of the seas' and 'the UK's most dangerous job'.
Small scale, local inshore fishers - families with time-long connections to the sea - are disappearing rapidly as industrial fishing sucks up the funding, the subsidies, the quota and, of course, the fish. A monoculture of further industrial exploitation takes shape - with the few remaining treasures of the sea eradicated for the vast profit of the few.
Brixham might look like a 'quaint' folksy fishing port, but it is home to industrial fishing on a huge scale. Beam Trawlers, industrial Bottom Trawlers and Dredgers serve the fish market whilst claiming to be somehow 'sustainable'. Meanwhile, other independent small scale inshore fishers are being squeezed out. Their heritage and the chance to look after their coastal areas has been taken from them. It's a familiar picture all across the British Isles.
Only 1% of fishing trips are independently monitored, whilst 11 of 15 indicators of ocean health are being failed by the UK.
The longer that government and fisheries management take to tackle the issue of industrial fishing, the more likely it is that drastic measures will have to be taken to rescue collapsing eco-systems and degraded marine habitats before it is simply too late.
4%
THE TINY AMOUNT OF QUOTA (FISHING ALLOCATION) THAT 77% OF THE UK FISHING FLEET (SMALLER INSHORE VESSELS) HAVE ACCESS TO.
Most of the UK fishing fleet is made up of smaller boats (around 10 metres and under) but they have just a tiny fraction of the UK's fishing quota. Smaller boats don't necessarily mean lower impact. However, smaller boats tend to be run locally, using local crew, are often family run- and with a key interest in conserving their local inshore marine resources. Smaller boats also use less harmful catch methods than the industrial Beam, Bottom Trawlers and Dredgers. Smaller boats can sell their catch locally through Community Interest Companies and supportive organisations. This means that the local economies of home ports benefit from a vibrant inshore fishing economy. But, in places like Brixham, ports are often dominated by industrial fishing companies, and the smaller boats are increasingly forced out of business.
70%
OF THE UK FISHING QUOTA IS CONTROLLED BY JUST 25 BUSINESSES
Just a handful of companies and operators own most of the access rights (quota) to most of the fish. This small 'cartel' tend to operate the most harmful and industrial fishing methods, as well as receiving huge fuel subsidies and grants. Lobbying and - in cases - donations to MP's campaign funds raise questions about Industrial Fishing's links to policy decision makers.
Industrial Dredgers, Beam and Bottom Trawlers are a common sight at Brixham. Using vast amonts of subsidised fuel, with massive (and unaccounted) carbon footprints, industrial Beam Trawlers, Bottom Trawlers & Dredgers devastate fish stocks and seabed ecologies. Somehow, in Brixham the carbon footprint of the fishing industry is not even featured in the area's 'Carbon Neutral' strategy; no attempt has been made to publish them. Industrial Beam Trawlers, Bottom Trawlers and Dredgers produce vast amounts of carbon from their operations, and carbon is also released from the seabed as they drag the equipment across it.
The huge money earned from these devastating methods has far reaching influence: it is also used to propagate myths about 'safeguarding the seas' or denigrating those who attempt to educate and campaign for less harmful methods.
COUNT THE FINGERS ON ONE HAND
THE NUMBER OF TRULY 'SUSTAINABLE' FISH MONGERS IN THE UK: PROVENANCE, EVIDENCE AND TRACEABILITY IS KEY
The word 'Sustainability' is overused. Beam Trawler, industrial Bottom Trawler and Dredging companies will happily fling the word around in the full knowledge that at present there is no accurate 'food standard' definition of sustainability for fish. But if we take it to mean fish sold exclusively from inshore, low impact Under 10m boats - then industrial fishing fails on all counts.
With most other food produce consumers are given accurate and impartial information on the provenance and content of their food. Not with fish. There are many companies that claim to provide 'sustainable' fish. But unless they can evidence with legal certainty where, how and by whom the fish was caught, beware: much of Brixham Fish will have been caught unsustainably. And no fish from a Dredger, Beam or industrial Bottom Trawler can accurately claim to be 'sustainably sourced' in this time of climate & nature collapse. Those are high impact methods in a fragile and disintegrating ecology. Lower impact methods- such as handline- don't get a look in as the market is swamped with dredge and beam trawled fish.
There is just a handful of community owned companies in the UK that can evidence which fishing method was used, what boat landed the fish, and only provide fish that comes evidenced as having been caught using the least harmful methods- such as handline. With these companies, no fish is wasted, and the community itself has a stake in conserving its precious marine resource.
3
TOTAL NUMBER OF PROTECTED MARINE AREAS AROUND ENGLAND (OUT OF178) IN WHICH BEAM, BOTTOM TRAWLING AND DREDGING IS BANNED
The science is clear: Dredging, Beam Trawling and industrial Bottom Trawling devastates seabed ecologies, and they take up to 10 years to even partially recover. One trial site in Lyme Bay saw biodiversity recover dramatically in all areas of species abundance after these harmful practices stopped. But Government continues to be lobbied by the substantial funds of Industrial Fishing, and lags significantly behind Europe and many places around the world when it comes to instigating bans.
70%
OF UK FISH STOCKS ARE OVERFISHED AND AT RISK OF COLLAPSE
This is the bit that the Industrial Fishing lobby really doesn't want people to know about. After all, scarcity increases value. But the terrible truth is that our UK waters are in a very degraded state. Climate change is affecting water temperature, and the fish that are able to move are following the cold water northwards. Those that cannot move easily - such as some flatfish- have to remain in a diminishing and unsuitable ecology. As Industrial Fishing continues to unsustainably extract fish stocks under so much pressure, we should expect to see many species become unfishable in the very near future - with a real world impact on the health of our marine environment.
SECTION 25
The UK Fisheries Act 2020 is clear there should be no dominance for industrial fishing - so why is it tolerated?
Section 25 of the Act currently bears little resemblance to reality- despite the fact it is UK legislation. The criteria for distribution of quota is not transparent and ignores the scientific facts: that industrial fishing has a huge and proven negative impact on the environment, often has a poor record of regulatory compliance and contributes minimally to the local economy.
INVALUABLE
A HEALTHY MARINE ECOSYSTEM IS NOT A 'NICE TO HAVE'. IT IS AS ESSENTIAL AS THE OXYGEN WE BREATHE
Our seas are the engine that drives our atmospheric conditions. The ecological web in our waters are interlinked with ecologies all over the world - above and below sea-level. The oceans are enormous carbon sinks. Our coasts in the UK bring tourists, wildlife and environmental value to our shores and coastal communities. The marine environment forms a huge part of our coastal economies. Seafood is an important part of nations' diets. If we could all see daily the damage that Industrial Fishing does beneath our seas it would be banned outright - with immediate effect.
PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW
A novella in verse about industrial fishing, coastal communities, climate breakdown and ecological collapse? What kind of person would write something like that? Someone who would like to know what you think- that's who! Tell me what you thought of the book or audio book, and what you are doing to make change happen.
A PHILOSOPHY OF WRITING
Simply- why bother?
Because words are wonderfully dangerous, contaminated with power, sticky with resonance, loaded with complication, inconvenient with meaning and insidious by nature. Words should be everyone's best friend and worst enemy. And often, during all our lives, they are both.
GET IN TOUCH WITH JIM
Communication is a gift- let's make the most of it.
I'd love to hear from you.