Mike Crates, a long-serving fish blocksman (filleter/cutter) from Wales, has finally been crowned the British Fish Craft Champion after 41 years of competing in the annual event. To do so, Crates had to enter six of the individual competitions which make up the championship and obtain the highest overall score.
From being junior champion in the early 1970s, Crates has won many of these individual competitions over the years and has been runner up to the overall champion on many occasions. One year, he had only entered five competitions, but was so far ahead of the other contestants that had he entered another competition he would have become champion without even taking part in that event.
Crates, who is 56 years old, has been working with fish since he left school at 15. He was taken on, with no academic qualifications, by John Adams, a past president of the National Federation of Fishmongers (NFF), who owned a fresh fish retail outlet in Penarth in south Wales.
In 1973, Adams took over E Ashton (Fishmongers) Ltd in nearby Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, and Crates went with him. Ashtons, now run by John Adams’s son Jonathan, current president of the NFF, is one of the largest fish retail outlets in the U.K. and sources fish and shellfish from all over the country. It also purchases fresh fish from around the world including Alaska, Norway, Chile, the Seychelles and various Arab countries.
“Mike [Crates] entered the craftsman competition for the first time as a junior representing “Adams” of Penarth in 1972,” said Jonathan Adams. “My father then took over Ashtons in 1973 and Mike went with him; the Penarth shop was then closed.
“At that time the competition [organized by the NFF] used to move around the country. I think Mike won the ‘junior’ title within two years, twice. Recently the competition has stabilized being in Hay’s Galleria, London, for about six years and then Cardiff, where it is held now, for the last four years.”
The NFF British Fish Craft Championship consists of 12 individual skill events such as filleting, skinning, portioning, steaking, or otherwise preparing fish including halibut, salmon, trout and flat fish, with competitions specifically featuring MSC certified and “non targeted” species. Other competitions are for shellfish, and poultry which is often sold by fishmongers. (Many fishmongers, including Ashtons, also sell game when in season.)
Anyone involved in the fish, poultry or game trade can compete in the championship and he or she can enter up to six competitions, with the exception of Morrisons’ Craft Challenge. This competition is for part time workers, beginners, or those who have never entered a competition before.
While the overall craft championship is sponsored by Young’s Seafood, individual competitions are sponsored by other seafood companies such the Saucy Fish Co., Dawnfresh, the Big Prawn Co., and Marine Harvest. Three of the U.K.’s biggest supermarkets, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, are also competition sponsors.
Staff from the major supermarkets also compete in the championship. “We had our biggest field of supermarket competitors (29 in total) since the competition started, this year, which was great,” said Gary Hooper, immediate NFF past president. “It was interesting to see, however, that eight out of the top 12 ranking competitors came from independents, with only one competitor from the supermarkets.”
The competitions that count towards the craft champion being chosen, take place during a single day, following two days of fish preparations and demonstrations. All the events can be viewed by members of the public.
“The whole championship is designed to market fish to the consumer,” said Hooper. “The public wants to be shown how to prepare and cook fresh fish and this is what this competition is designed to do. As the skill and knowledge levels increase through this competition so the skills will be passed on to the public.”
