THE ROCKFISH STARS OF LYME BAY

A trailblazing partnership between a Dorset trawler and a restaurant owner, champions sustainably caught seafood and hopes to educate us about local fish species

- Helen Stiles

I first met Mitch Tonks in 1999 in London, where he started his first restaurants and fishmongers. I was the producer of Dirty Tackle, a fishing show on BBC Radio 5 Live, and my presenter – in one of those brilliant nominative determinism moments – was Nick Fisher. Nick was interviewing Mitch for the show as we were interested in trailblazers like him who encouraged people to broaden their fish eating experience. Mitch believed that if as a nation we could rediscover the joy of eating different species, this would reduce the pressure on our dwindling stocks of cod and haddock.

Fast forward nearly two decades, and our paths have crossed again, in Dorset. Mitch has recently opened his two branches of Rockfish in Weymouth and Poole. And Nick Fisher is one of the owners of Rockfisher, the Dorset trawler supplying all their sustainably caught fish and, unusually for a restaurant, Rockfish buys all their catch.

“I have always wanted people to enjoy seafood that is sustainable and properly cooked, near to where it is caught, without compromise,” declares Mitch, who opened the first Rockfish in Dartmouth in 2010.

“This is driven by the great experiences I’ve had eating local seafood around the world from Italy and Portugal to Sydney and Melbourne, and along the eastern seaboard of the US. I want everyone to have the same great experiences here where we have amazing seafood in our waters. It’s simple, and the ethos I had 20 years ago hasn’t changed.”

Last year, over a beer, Mitch and Nick started discussing how difficult it is to make a fishing boat work financially and give fishermen a decent living.