Every time I cross the new Severn Bridge leaving Wales, I check the state of the tide, using a buoy in the middle of the channel. I learned to sail in these cocoa-coloured waters of the Bristol Channel, with its ferocious tidal range (the distance between low and high water) the second highest in the world. You can’t work against these currents, you can only cooperate.
Today I get down to sea level itself, to meet Martin Morgan. He’s secretary of the Black Rock Lave Net Fishery, started by his great-grandfather over 100 years ago, and has known these grounds between the two Severn crossings since childhood. He’s fished the Grandstand, the Hole and the Gruggy, all using a traditional method of netting salmon – lave nets.
