Honor Smith-Wright reflects on how a deep commitment to sustainability brings unique challenges for Sea Sisters
Building any business is demanding. Building a small food business that stays seasonal and local, even more so. Around the UK, small and sustainable food businesses are on the rise, reflecting a greater interest in provenance and environmental responsibility. Yet they are still forced to operate within a framework shaped by global trade, where local supply often comes second to export contracts. The result is a system in which what is caught, grown and produced here isn’t always bought or eaten by those who live here.
Around eighty per cent of the fish landed (caught) in the UK is exported, while roughly ninety per cent of the fish eaten in the UK is imported (Seafish, 2022). For an island nation, that imbalance feels absurd; to trade delicious native species like sardines and hake for the so-called big five: cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns. Somewhere along the way, convenience and uniformity have overtaken seasonality. As a nation, we have lost sight of who catches our fish, where it’s been caught and even what it tastes like.
This reality plays out every day at Sea Sisters. A few different choices would mean longer seasons for certain species, cheaper produce and a more consistent supply. But Sea Sisters doesn’t make them. Staying seasonal and ethical means waiting for spring and the small seasonal window for pot-caught, rather than trawled, cuttlefish. It means adapting to the supply of Cornish hake, a species that is abundant but sensitive to currents and can only be netted on neap tides, when currents are weak. And it means only working with Cornish sardines landed by ring net — the traditional method used by Cornish fishers for generations — within six miles of the Cornish coast.
Pictured: Lucy Philips from Hastings, who pot-catches our cuttlefish in season
Working with the sea requires flexibility. It means big orders being delayed because high winds keep the boats tied up in the harbour. It means last-minute changes to production plans and late nights grafting in the cannery to fulfil orders. And it means regular, early morning trips to Plymouth in the van, to collect fresh sardines as they land, so they are ready for brining at 8 am.
The same care continues in the cannery. Each fillet is cut by hand and placed carefully into each can. No machines are used to pump fish uniformly into cans; instead, Sea Sisters employs real people who understand the craft of canning and how well-preserved fish should look and taste.
Producing food ethically is challenging, not because the fundamental principles are complicated, but because the system isn’t built to support them. A fishing climate that prioritises scale and uniform supply leaves little room for seasonality, small boats and nature's limits. What distinguishes the Sea Sisters process is the relationships with the fishers who supply the business, and the deep understanding of how the sea and its own schedule can affect supply. This knowledge means that when supply falls short, it isn’t a failure, but part of working within nature’s limits. In a world where almost everything seems constantly available, accepting those limits feels like a more sustainable way to work with food.