‘It didn’t just kill them at sea’: an oral history of health and wellbeing in British fishing communities, c.1960 – present.

The health and wellbeing of coastal communities dependent on fishing is inextricably linked to the health and wellbeing of the seas. Over the last 70 years, environmental changes and governance measures linked to declining fish stocks have piled pressure onto an industry long characterised by dangerous working conditions and precarious employment, with health implications for coastal communities throughout the world. In Britain, the decline of the fishing industry since the 1950s has contributed to a coastal health crisis, whilst severing longstanding connections to the sea for many communities. This project places oral history and community engagement methodologies at its core, asking those who have lived and worked in British fishing communities about the impact of changing oceanic health on individual and community health and wellbeing. The project will seek to understand how the health risks of a dangerous trade changed over time, how these have been managed and remembered within communities across generations, and how processes of deindustrialisation and disconnection with the seas have affected community wellbeing over the long term. The project places communities at the heart of questions about their health and wellbeing, with historical change as the mechanism for enabling them to shape their own narratives.