Who Is Brixham Trawler Agents?

Brixham Trawler Agents Limited (BTA) is a private company with over 130 shareholders, with offices within the Brixham harbour complex. We operate the premier fish auction in England selling fish on behalf of the trawler owners to the fish buyers who compete at the daily shout auction.

BTA also offer a range of services to local and visiting fishing and commercial vessels that use the port of Brixham, including:-

• Management of the daily shout auction where the fish landed by the fleet is sold.
• A haulage operation transporting the catch from ports around the south coast of England to be sold at the daily auction
• A landing service taking the catch from each vessel to refrigerated storage prior to the auction.
• The sorting and grading of the catch by species and weight.
• The supply of over 16,000,000 litres of fuel (red diesel) to vessels throughout the year.
• Provision of up to 76 tons of ice every 24 hours which is used by trawlers and day boats.
• A box wash service to clean the thousands of fish boxes used on the quayside.
• An accounting service where costs incurred are settled against the revenue earned from each catch.

Brixham Fish Market operates on a 24-hour basis and to keep things running smoothly requires a dedicated staff of over 50 people. Over the years the volume of fish landed has continually increased with Brixham now the largest fishing port in England in terms of revenue from fish sold.

This had led to the BTA generating an annual turnover well in excess of £10,000,000 in 2017 resulting in a year-on-year increase in profits of 25%. BTA are using a large proportion of this revenue to invest in both new staff and machinery.

What’s new in 2018/19?

Staff

During 2018 the growth of the business meant that we had to increase the number of staff we employ. Kate Walne, who is studying for her AAT qualifications, was taken on as assistant to the office manager Lindsay Ritson. Briony Rogers joined as an office junior, and along with Julia McLeod the staff in the office has now increased to 4.

In July 2018 BTA were delighted to employ Mark Owen as quality control manager. Mark has the difficult task of ensuring fish from Brixham Fish Market remains the top quality fish you can buy!

In August 2018, Neil Watson, a former fisherman was taken on as a fishing specialist advising the directors on all fishing matters. Having sold his business in March 2018, after serving 35 years in the fishing industry, Neil was delighted to accept the position and offer his expertise to the company.

Adam Mudge was recruited from local accountancy firm Bishop Fleming in October 2018 to assist the finance director and become company secretary. Adam worked as a senior manager and a fishing specialist, and brings his skills from practice to the industry.

After working as operations manager for several years Matthew Bailey was appointed as a company director in May 2018.

On the 31 December 2018 Rick “Smudger” Smith and Mike Walker, Chairman and director respectively, both retired from their posts. During their 18 years of serving the business, they have both helped to turn it around and make it what it is today – a successful, thriving and profitable company.

On 1 January 2019 Neil Watson was appointed a director and Mike Shaw, who will remain as finance director, also moved up to fill the chairman position. Barry Young continues as Managing Director overseeing the business and driving it forward. Barry also is actively involved in the fishing industry through his role in the local Producers Organisation.

New investments help reduce our carbon footprint

The company has just invested in four new LPG operated forklift trucks from Exeter based, family run company Westexe Forklifts Ltd. Each forklift has a zero emissions catalytic convertor, which is a better option than going completely electric because of the salt-water environment they will be used in. The forklifts will be supported by our two electric pallet trucks that we purchased from Still, that are used specifically on the fish market floor.

New fish grading machine

Prior to the fish being sold on the auction they are graded by species and weight. We currently operate an eight gate grading machine and a six gate grading machine. However, we are investing over £150,000 to upgrade to a new 11 grade system which will bring us into line with the rest of Europe. This cost has been part funded by a grant from the MMO.

New clock auction

In the Spring we will move away from the traditional shout auction to a cloud based clock auction system that will enable buyers to purchase fish from the comfort of their own home or office. This is a substantial investment; not only in the system components but also in the training of staff and procedural changes we will need to introduce to ensure a smooth transition.

This is a very exciting investment for us especially as Brixham and Urk (Holland) fish markets will be the first fish markets to have such a system. It keeps Brixham at the forefront of the technological advancements in the industry, and will help us to ensure we continue to attract the best prices for our fish landed at Brixham.

This new platform will ensure a very competitive market place for both buyers and sellers and ensure buyers can buy the best quality fish and shellfish in the volumes they require at an agreed price.

We will be providing information on this new system on a regular basis as we move towards the launch.

BTA