Both Barry and Wullie are right , the recent 4th program from last years final Trawlermen series showed how they cut together different hauls to try to make something normal to a fisherman look more dramatic than it really was. If the fishing industry was , in reality , the way its been made out in both the Trawlermen and Trawlers/Rigs and Rescues then no one would go to the job.
The fishing is going through tough times , by far the toughest times in living memory , just now with another 50 boats being taken out of the fleet in Scotland just so the remaining boats have enough days they can fish ( how can any business survive when a whitefish boat can only work 120 days [ 150 with a transfer from another licence ] or a prawn trawler 200 days at sea per year ?? ). I have seen Aberdeen go from over 120 boats in 1984 ( both Aberdeen owned and regular boats from other ports ) down now to no more than 6 boats with only a few hundred boxes of fish landed per week instead of the 10-14,000 boxes per day back in the 1980's.
Peterhead and Fraserburgh have both suffered in the same way. Since the 1980's the fleet has shrunk by around 60% in numbers and when you consider the severe restrictions on days-at-sea they are allowed , the tight quotas and the fact that the prices of fish and prawns have not gone up , if at all , by much since 1990 when fuel has gone from £240 a ton to £500+ per ton now you can see the problems.
The latest 50 boats to leave the fleet mean that 300-320 fishermen will now loose their jobs and as 6 jobs are maintained onshore for every 1 at sea Scotland ( the NE corner from Buckie to Peterhead ) will loose 1800 to 2000 jobs plus the 300-320 so no less than 2100 jobs will go in the next month or two from the industry and they will never increase again.
All I would ask is that if you are buying fish ask for UK caught fish and if you like Langoustine's ( Prawns ) keep asking your local stores to stock UK caught to support whats left of the fleet.
Oh and Andy I think if the wheelhouse was a little larger and set slightly further aft she would look "normal" but she is very well designed and built for the job she has to do and as a working boat function has to come over form sometimes