Big £158k haul of Mediterranean octopus caught near Channel Islands

Perth Now

2 days ago

A Cornish trawler caught £158,000-worth of Octopus.
Enterprise, a beam trawler based in Newlyn, Cornwall, England, were fishing in Mare Deep, an area near the Channel Islands, when they caught a 20 tonne-haul of Mediterranean octopus.
Skipper George Stevens told BBC News: "The figures were adding up in my head and I thought, 'This is going to be a good payday.'
"I rang one of the crew while he was in the supermarket to tell him how much money I'd just put in his account. I imagine the staff saw some strange reactions."
The rise in octopus in British waters is having a big affect on the shellfish inustry because the eight-limbed animal eat the crabs and lobsters out of the fishing pots.
But George thinks he has done the shellfish industry a "favour" by getting rid of some octopus.
He said: "The unfortunate thing is that it's been affecting the shellfish industry really badly. But one man's famine is another man's feast and, by getting rid of a few, we've done the industry a favour."
George said sorting out the octopus after they had been caught was challenging.
He explained: "These octopus have very big tentacles and they're very grippy.
"My crew only have two arms each and these have eight legs. It was quite entertaining to watch them try to peel them off their bodies.
"They're very fast-moving, were climbing down the elevator, climbing over the bins and up the walls.
"But once they went down to the fish room and touched a bit of ice, they became a bit more sedate."