Husband-and-wife team Jan and Barbara run a small fishing company, the first in the Netherlands to be certified as sustainable. They work in the Wadden Sea, a shallow stretch of water between the northwest coast and the Frisian Islands, and a protected area. In the 53-minute documentary Goede Vissers (Good Fishers), Dutch filmmakers Michiel Zwaanswijk and Pepijn Kortbeek follow the couple as they try to catch enough fish to make a living.
Jan and Barbara fish according to traditional methods. This means that they operate on a small scale using a rubber boat and lay out their nets by hand. The nets used have relatively large meshes, so that smaller fish can slip through and continue to mature. The occasional unlucky duck that gets its feet stuck in the net is untangled and released.
Even with his practised eye, Jan can spend hours, sometimes days, scanning the sea for mullet, a fish that thrives in these warm, shallow waters. When he sees a shoal he has to act quickly, dropping his nets in a circle around the fish and effectively trapping them. Sometimes he is lucky, but often the shoal moves off before he can close the circle.
Marketing Sustainable Fish
It is hard, physical work with no guarantee of success, and yet the couple says they would not want to do anything else. Jan in particular, who also lives on the water and is joined by Barbara on the days that she is not working on the mainland, seems to ‘belong’ in his watery surroundings. Muscular and tanned from a life outdoors, he has the passion to get through the disappointing catches and the often cold, wet Dutch weather, and the patience for the long waits between catches.
The documentary also shows Jan and Barbara selling their own produce at Amsterdam’s weekly Noordermarkt organic market, and the difficulties they face getting their fish accepted by and marketed as sustainable through regular channels.
A Gentle Movie with a Message
A gentle movie about a couple trying to get by doing what they love, Good Fishers nonetheless captures the natural beauty of the Wadden Sea, at the same time highlighting the dangers to the environment of overfishing and commercial fishing methods.
Good Fishers is currently playing on the film festival circuit. It premiered in May 2009 at Slow Food on Film in Bologna, Italy and will be screened at the upcoming Strawberry Earth Environmental Film Festival in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on June 6.
Cecily Layzell - Cecily Layzell is a food and travel writer and founder of restaurant review site www.eat-amsterdam.com.
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