It’s early morning and I’m looking out at the flat, silvery waters of the Eastern Scheldt, waiting to meet fisherman Gerrie van den Hoek. Despite the spring sunshine and the calm surface of the estuary, the wind deals me a body blow when I get out of the car to greet him.
As we walk to the water’s edge, Gerrie’s 19-year-old son, Robin, approaches in his motorboat, the mirror-smooth water breaking as if for the first time. It’s only the second day of the Eastern Scheldt lobster fishing season, which runs from the last Thursday in March to 15 July, and for now we’re the only people on the water. “It used to be a race,” Gerrie tells me. “At 9am on the first day of the season, all the boats would be lined up ready to claim the best fishing spots. People bought the biggest, fastest boats they could to beat the others. Now the fishermen in the co-operative can draw lots, so it’s much more relaxed.”
On these waters — and those of the North Sea beyond them — fishermen from around 30 companies spend six days a week on the water from March to January, first catching lobster and then fish such as eel, sole and Atlantic wolffish. Getting a good spot is vital — with Eastern Scheldt lobsters fetching €55 (£47) a kilo wholesale, this is the most lucrative season in the local fishing calendar.
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