A potted history

Like three generations of his family before him, Dave French makes lobster pots the traditional Devon way - using willow stems. Now he is passing on his skills to an apprentice. Rosanna Morris meets the master and his pupil

- Rosanna Morris

Walk along the quay of a fishing village in the UK and you will spot the ubiquitous lobster pot stacked up in huge piles - a familiar sight on harboursides from Tobermory to Clovelly. The creels will mostly be made from a plastic-coated steel frame, with plastic rings, rope and netting. Yet even modern traps have a romance about them - probably because they are the tools of local fishermen, a sight that reminds us that, in some areas, fishing is still thriving.

However, these modern pots are not a touch on their predecessors. Study old photographs of the British coastline and you will spy lobster pots constructed from willow. These woven withy pots are particularly beautiful, leading many to view them as decorative remnants of a now obsolete practice. But traditional lobster-pot maker Dave French, based in W Plympton, Devon, insists they are as relevant today as they were a century ago - perhaps even more so.

Dave and his apprentice Sarah Ready are on a mission to ensure that not only does this critically endangered craft endure, but that it is a skill mastered by today's young fishermen and women so they can catch lobsters and crabs in a more sustainable, less destructive way and help the small-scale fishing industry survive. "It is vital to keep this craft alive, especially now with all that is happening with plastic in our oceans," says Dave. "Sometimes you have to look to the past to figure out where you have gone wrong with things. Fishing is no exception."

AN INHERITED SKILL

Fishing with woven baskets dates back centuries, although there are no records to tell a true history. Before boats were commonplace and many people could swim, coastal families would catch food from the sea by wading out into low tides with baskets. "I've seen a 16th-century painting with one of these pots, but they go back way beyond that," Dave says.