Kynance Crab
David Kessell has been a fisherman for over 30 years, fishing from the Helford River in his boat The Sterennyk,
David lands crabs as well as the white fish that is his main catch.
Together with his wife and business partner, Bernadette, David had been selling crab as a cottage industry since 1994, but the business has grown tenfold as a result of a grant through Objective One from SW PESCA in 2004, which enabled conversion of an outbuilding into a crab processing unit.
Bernadette says ‘Broadband has been brilliant for us. We installed broadband in January 2006 and it has made a fantastic difference to the way we operate. Especially since the business has grown so fast recently, we need everything to be as efficient and streamlined as possible.’
With three children, Bernadette juggles business and family commitments, often going on to the computer to work on the business late at night or in the early morning.
‘The flexibility that I get from broadband is priceless’ says Bernadette. ‘I can go online at midnight if it suits me and source all our packaging and labels. It saves me so much time compared with the old days where I used to have to phone around suppliers within office hours.’
Bernadette continues ‘We also do all our business banking online now, which again saves us time and is so much more convenient. Our customers pay us directly into our account and we can see the payment online.’
‘Now that it is so quick and easy with broadband, David also uses the Internet to find out information about, for example, crew training or to find equipment for the boat. There are several really useful sites about the fishing industry, such as the Cornwall Fisheries Resource Centre (www.cfrc.org.uk) and we find these invaluable now. It means we can stay totally up to date and well informed with very little effort. Everything you could possibly want to know is at your fingertips. What more could you want?’
Bernadette adds ‘We also promote our products through some web portals but the next step for us is to develop our own website, where we can sell the crab online. That is our plan for this year and it really will take the business to the next level. Broadband has opened up new horizons for us.’
