Fish and Ships Festival, Whitby: Discover Whitby's fishing traditions at town's festival

Head chef at the Magpie Cafe Paul Gildroy will be doing demonstrations in the Seafood Kitchen Marquee, alongside Andrew Barker of Hodgson Fish, winner of Seafish British Craft Championship 2018.

Andrew will be preparing seabass, salmon and squid, with Paul showing just how easy and simple they are to cook.

Andrew buys his cod and haddock fresh from Lockers Trawlers of Whitby, which fishes out of Peterhead.

“People don’t need to be afraid of cooking fish, you don’t have to have lots of flavours, it can be simple and it’s so healthy,” he said.

“I’m thinking of doing a salmon ceviche, with the fish slightly cooked in citrus juice. We are hoping to highlight things like that.”

Few people realise it but Whitby is Europe’s third largest lobster port with around a dozen boats landing local lobster and crab.

Andrew said: "The festival is about keeping traditions alive and awareness that Whitby is a working port, not just a tourist destination. We have all the abundance of the North Sea.”

One of the traditions which lives on is boatbuilding and people will have a rare opportunity to see behind the scenes at Whitby’s last shipbuilder Parkol Marine. They'll be able to go aboard a trawler Daystar FR 86, which is being built for Fraserburgh skipper Stephen West.

Director Sally Atkinson said: "People will be able to see inside the wheelhouse, the fish processing deck, where the catch comes aboard into the hopper, and into the accommodation area the galley and the mess.

"Stephen's been coming to the yard with lots of ideas from Scandinavian pelagic vessels and introduced a lot of modern features, which increases the level of spec and finish.

"The expectations these days, going on from 15 to 20 years ago, is that it's home from home.

"We sometimes make the galleys inhouse - this one has a Wren kitchen.”

Another interesting experience on offer is taking a look inside Whitby Lobster Hatchery, which has started to release juvenile lobsters back into the waters around the port. Eventually it aims to release 100,000 lobsters back into the sea, offsetting the number landed there every year.

Meanwhile the skills of pot making, net mending and crab and lobster dressing will be on show in the Fish Craft Tent. Whitby Library is hosting a full day of events on Saturday while Whitby Museum, this year celebrating its 200th anniversary, will be running a family-friendly Treasure Trail.

The full programm is available at discoveryorkshirecoast.com/fishandships.