After 42 years in Whitstable's waters, the future looks bleak for fisherman Phil Edwards. Brad Harper went oyster dredging with him to find out why.

The Lisa Marie of Arun is sailing near the Kentish Flats wind farm - about six miles from Whitstable - when fisherman Phil Edwards goes into meltdown.

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“Oh ********, ********, ********,” he screams while careering up and down the boat as the thick stench of burning oil fills the air.

Phil juggles his tools in a desperate attempt to fix his beloved 40-year-old vessel while I - both helpless and oblivious - stand well clear from the outbreak at the rear.

The hydraulic pipe has burst which, for the 58-year-old semi-retired fisherman, could mean an early finish.

The pipe operates two fishing dredges which comb the seabed for Whitstable’s most celebrated delicacy - native oysters.

Phil catches the town's famous molluscs between September and April, but also fishes for Dover sole, skate and lobsters.

"Lucky I had a spare one," he says after fixing the pipe problem. "I don't usually carry one that size."

His 33ft "retirement" boat left Whitstable Harbour at 6am sharp and took 40 minutes to reach the oyster beds.

Phil spends about eight hours dredging for oysters - which he describes as "the most boring job in fishing". He will be out at sea for up to 12 hours when he is trawling.

With the sun blazing down, he hates fishing during the summer. He gets too sweaty during the tiring hours of labour - which might justify the bandana holding back his long greying hair.

His eyes are shielded by dark aviator sunglasses and he dons a heavy duty apron while dredging.

The water is tranquil with the sun beaming on it - but the picturesque scene is disrupted by the Lisa Marie's droning engine.

Our only company is squawking seagulls and a seal stalking the boat.

"The seals troll you all day and steal the fish out of your net," Phil growls.

I had woken up at 4am ready for my early shift on the boat, armed with Wellington boots and a pork pie for lunch.

"The seals troll you all day and steal the fish out of your net..." - Phil Edwards

Although I shamelessly dodged any physical labour, the journey was exhausting. The boat is small with no seats and while the view of the water is beautiful to begin with, after a few hours the surroundings start to become a bit tedious.

Phil has been doing this for 42 years - but his outlook for the future of the trade in Whitstable is bleak.

As the decades have passed, there have been fewer fishing opportunities - and as a result the size of his boat and crew have got smaller.

"If you have a crew, you have got to earn them £30,000 a year - you just can't do that anymore."

Phil blames the decline on a "perfect storm" of problems.

Firstly, he opposes electric pulse fishing by Dutch fishermen which drives fish into the nets.

He says wind farms being built in the waters disrupts sea life.

And he bemoans dredging operations in the Upper Thames Valley at the Port of Tilbury, which he says have destroyed the sole stocks in Kent waters.

Phil says: "It's crazy they restrict us on what we can do with fishing but you can go out with a dredger and basically take away the whole of the seabed - what's more damaging than that?

"Fishing quotas are the ones everyone hears about. For boats my size, it's not so much of an issue. It is a lack of fishing opportunities.

"Sole fishing has collapsed, cod fishing has collapsed and the price of some fish is half of what it was 20 years ago."

Oyster dredging is a steady trade and we arrive back at the harbour with 850 of the molluscs.

But for young fishermen, the future of this town's trade is uncertain.

"Whitstable as a port is mainly shellfish now," says Phil. "I am probably one of the only fishermen who use trawling as my main form of fishing.

"Most of the boats fish for whelks - but if that collapses, I don't think you'll see many boats in Whitstable.

"It's OK for me - I have had my career, I am semi-retired. But if you are a young bloke with a mortgage and boat loan, you would be struggling.

"If I was young, I would have to move. I wouldn't have any choice. If you're a young bloke, you have got to move."

But despite Phil's fear's for the future of fishing, he'll be back out on his boat today.

It might be "the most boring job" - but someone's got to do it.

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