Pish of the day

Pop quiz: what do you expect to find in the harbour of a British fishing village or town? I know the industry is a shadow of its former self but I'd still hope that most people of my age, give or take ten years, would probably say things like harbour walls, jetties, boat ramps, chandlers... oh, and since there's a bit of a clue in the word 'fishing' there, probably some fishing boats. Cynics, and I'd count myself among them, might expect sheltered, state edumacatified townies with little ability to picture the source of what's on their plate to be surprised to find fishing boats in harbours, but surely not someone in their 40s. Surely not.

Oh no, you've got to be kidding.

... when David Copp came across a fishing trawler moored in Ilfracombe Harbour he took great offence and complained about the “disgusting” smell.
The 46-year-old was outraged that his children, aged seven and nine, had been forced to endure the sight of 12 crates of dead fish and crabs, piled up on the quayside.

Oh, the humanity! Er, piscinity? Whatever.  (Image from here.)

Look, David, you peanut, it's a fishing harbour. Fish-ing. Har-bour. What the hell did you expect to see there? Bubble pits? A petting zoo? Disney's little mermaid?

He said the ordeal had left them “quite distressed” and demanded to know why the harbourmaster was not more considerate to tourists.

Yes, David, you demand those inconsiderate fishing people trying to make a living supplying seafood be evicted and replaced with Ariel and her mermaid friends, just so it doesn't upset your kids. Or not.

AAAAAAAARGH! DADDY, IT'S COMING FOR ME! 

“There were flies flying around and the smell was awful,” he said. “The ship was just sat there not doing anything, and there were 12 crates of dead crabs and fish just lying there covered in flies."

Yes, David, because they'd just been pulled out of the sea not long before and had not yet been cleaned and gutted. Did you think fishing boats just lower nets and bring the catch up already boxed? Who would kill and box the fish down there? Well, apart from that creepy red headed mermaid, of course. She looks like she'd murder anything else with fins just for shits and giggles, and could probably be persuaded to package them up ready for the supermarket in exchange for your children's souls. But otherwise ten seconds rational thought should have told David Copp that what he was seeing was pretty much what he should expect to see.

But instead he rang up and complained.

Mr Copp called Ilfracombe harbourmaster Rob Lawson to complain about the smell that had emanated from The Lady of Lundy trawler before calling the North Devon Journal to air his woes.
[...]
“He was very upset that he had come across the boxes of fish and thought it was entirely inappropriate and not a good sight or smell,” [Mr Lawson] said.

I'm glad to see that unlike my last post on offence seeking there's no report of any apologies being made here. Rob Lawson simply explained the facts of life in a working fishing harbour, though with apparently limited success.

Mr Lawson tried to explain that fishermen depended on the daily catch for their livelihoods and that it was a common site on a working quayside.
[...]
“I explained the workings of the harbour and that it was a working quay and that while it was not ideal, sometimes this happened.
“But he didn’t calm down, he went to the local newspaper and then when they printed his complaints, he came back to me to see what I had to say.”

So having blown a good opportunity to educate his kids about where food comes from in favour of looking up the actual phone number of the actual harbourmaster and picking up an actual phone to complain, this tool then compounds it by whinging to the papers when the harbourmaster doesn't take his complaint about fishing boats in a fishing harbour terribly seriously. Jesus Christ on a jetski!

How things have been resolved is not reported, but I understand that the suggestion that Birdseye will be redesigning their packaging is a rumour and has no foundation.