The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free
Landing European Sprat
A large catch of sprats is landed in Weymouth Harbour.
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Overview
A record-breaking catch of sprats is brought into Weymouth Harbour. Holy Trinity Church in the distance dominates the southern side of the harbour near to Town Bridge where the haul is being landed. The sprats are cured and placed in barrels ready to be transported. High in nutritional value sprat is part of the herring family with silvery skin and sometimes confused with juvenile sardines.
It is important to say here that whitebait is a term for a mixed fried fish dish, usually herring, sprat and other juveniles, and not actually a fish but a collective noun! Sprats are a schooling fish so are under pressure from industrial fisheries and they are a prey fish and would be eaten by predators like cod, haddock or pollack and although it is unknown if collapse in smaller fish stocks have in turn for example pushed cod stocks down, it may be one of the reasons for this. Sprats are on the Marine Conservation Society's amber so some way off from being a sustainable fishery. The Marine Stewardship Council is responsible for certifying a fishery as sustainable.
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