In a small hut next to Newlyn Harbour at the bottom of Cornwall, the next generation of fishermen are quite literally learning the ropes.

Around a dozen students are on the eighth day of a two-week intensive course to become commercial fishers.

From knot and ropework to chart plotting, navigation to sea survival, by the end of the course they’ll be qualified to take a berth on a vessel.

While many are following in the footsteps of their fathers, others are here to try an entirely different career.

Elliot Fairbairn, 28, is originally from London and has been working as a groundworker.

“I’m not from a fishing family – I just like a challenge,” he says.

He’s put his current job on hold to see how fishing works out.

“It makes you feel good doing a hard job. I think that’s what’s getting lost these days, people want an easy job, easy money and they don’t understand what it takes to be successful. Sometimes you’ve got to put that in the work.”

Elliot already has a job lined up for next week on a ring-netter boat.

“I’m ecstatic – I’m very pumped!” he tells me.

Also on the course is 17-year-old Oscar Ashby. He’s doing his A-Levels at Truro College and training to be a healthcare worker at the main hospital in Cornwall.

“I’m part of the staff bank so can work whatever hours I want – which would fit quite well if I wanted to do a week’s fishing,” he says.

It’s his love of being outside that has drawn him to get qualified.

“It’s hands-on, it’s not a bad way to make money. It’s one of the last jobs that is like being a hunter-gatherer really – everything else is really industrialised, ” Oscar says.

The course was over-subscribed.

The charity that runs it – Seafood Cornwall Training – could only offer places to half those who applied.

‘A foot in the door’

“The range of knowledge they’re gathering is everything from how to tie a few knots all the way on how to register with HMRC to pay and manage their tax because they’d be self-employed fishermen,” manager Clare Leverton tells me.

“What we’re trying to do with this course is give them a foot in the door.

“By meeting our tutors, skippers on the quay, vessel managers, they start to understand who they’re going to have to talk to to get jobs.”

Getting fresh blood into the industry is vital.

Over the last 30 years, the number of fishermen in the UK has nearly halved – from around 20,000 to 10,000.

The average age of a fisherman in the UK is 55.

Aging workforce

“I think we’re seeing the effects of having an aging workforce,” says Mike Cohen, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO).

“Fishing is a traditional occupation in most places around the country. A lot of family businesses, and as people are getting older, they’re starting to retire out of the industry.”

The decline comes at a time of frustration and anger in the industry too.

Many feel the prime minister’s post-Brexit deal with the EU back in May sold fishing out by guaranteeing another 12 years of access to EU boats to fish in UK waters, rather than allowing it to be negotiated annually.

“A large part of the effort the EU exerts in UK waters is within our territorial waters, so within 12 miles of the shore. And that’s the area that’s most pressured,” adds Mr Cohen.

“For new people getting into the industry it’s the area that they can reach in the sort of small boats that new starters tend to work in. They’re increasingly pressured in that space and by keeping all of those European boats having access to it for free, for nothing, that puts them under even more pressure.”

The government says it will always back “our great British fishing industry” and insists the EU deal protects Britain’s fishing access.

‘A brilliant career’

To further promote getting young people into commercial fishing, the Cornwall Fish Producers Organisation has helped set up the Young Fishermen Network.

Skipper Tom Lambourne, 29, helped set up the group.

“There’s not enough young people coming into it and getting involved in it,” he says.

“It’s actually a brilliant career. It’s a hard career – you do have to sacrifice a lot to get a lot out of fishing – your time is one of them. But the pros of that certainly outweigh it and it’s a really good job.”

Tom says the network supports new fishers by holding social events and helping them find jobs: “There’s never been a collective for young fishermen.

“For a youngster getting into the fishing industry to be sort of part of that – knowing there’s other youngsters coming in in the same position – they can chat to one another, it’s pretty cool really.”

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In 2021, UK fishing contributed around 0.03% to GDP – with an economic output of £483m.

Economically, it is not a big player.

However, studies suggest that each fisherman creates 15 other jobs in the seafood trade on land.

It’s also a huge part of the fabric of the UK’s identity and landscape – and one that the next generation will have to fight to keep alive.

RICHMOND, Va. — Austin Dillon was hurting mentally and physically when he arrived at Richmond Raceway. He found the cure for what ailed him in victory lane Saturday night.

Racing with a broken rib and some wounded pride, Dillon locked into the Cup Series playoffs with a clean run to his second consecutive victory on the 0.75-mile oval.

It was a redemptive triumph for the Richard Childress Racing driver, whose championship eligibility was revoked by NASCAR last year after he wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap to win at Richmond.

After missing the playoffs and enduring criticism from Logano, Hamlin and others who accused him of racing dirty, he went through a 37-race winless stretch before breaking through at Richmond with his first top five of the season.

“Man, that feels good,” said Dillon, whose previous best finish had been a seventh at Texas Motor Speedway in May. “I really wanted that one. Last year hurt really bad just going through the whole process of it, but this one feels so sweet. Man, I love Richmond.”

He revealed after his sixth career victory that he also had raced with the rib injury the past three weeks since falling off a ladder before the Aug. 3 race at Iowa Speedway.

“I was thrown down a lot this week and didn’t feel great,” he said.

He shrugged off the pain to outduel Ryan Blaney over the final 100 laps, seizing control with a shrewd strategy call to pit his No. 3 Chevrolet four laps earlier than the Team Penske driver’s No. 12 Ford.

Dillon, who led 107 of 400 laps, won by 2.471 seconds over Alex Bowman. Blaney faded to third, followed by Logano and Austin Cindric.

Dillon became the 14th race winner to lock into the 16-driver field for the Cup playoffs, which are contested over the final 10 races of the season.

The regular season will conclude next Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, where the final two playoff drivers will be confirmed — and at least one will qualify through the points standings.

Tyler Reddick and Bowman are in the final two provisional spots on points, but either could be eliminated if another new winner emerges at Daytona (which has happened twice in the last three years).

“Really stressful on a lot of fronts,” Bowman said. “I think with the way that race normally goes, it’s about a must-win at that point because I think you’re most likely going to have a new winner. Just need to go execute and try to win the race. That’s all we can really do.”

Streak over

After a consistent start to his season, Chase Elliott is in a slump heading into the playoffs. The 2020 Cup champion finished last at Richmond and failed to finish for the first time since last October at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (27 races ago).

Elliott nearly had cleared the pileup on the 198th lap when he was tagged in the right rear by Kyle Busch.

“I think Kyle just didn’t know that we were trying to squeeze by the wreck on the bottom,” Elliott said. “We had a good start to the night, and it just slowly unraveled until it finally fell apart. Hopefully we get on a better stretch starting next week.”

Since briefly taking the points lead after his June 28 win at Atlanta, the seven-time Most Popular Driver has finished outside the top 10 in five of seven races.

Packed house

About an hour before the green flag, Richmond Raceway announced its first sellout since 2008. During its heyday, the track had 112,000 seats that sold out twice annually. Because of softening ticket sales amid lackluster racing, Richmond was scheduled for only one Cup race this season for the first time since 1958, and its grandstand capacity has dwindled to under 50,000.

Denny Hamlin grew up about 20 miles south in Chesterfield, Virginia, and his family once had seats at Richmond.

“We always went to both races, but the sport is in a different place now,” he said. “The way to get it back is you have to sell out at least the one time. That and improve short track racing. If you can do those things, then I think you will have a better case to having two races here.”

Back to reality

A week after his fourth consecutive Cup victory on a street or road course, rookie Shane van Gisbergen finished an impressive 14th at Richmond after scraping the wall twice in qualifying and starting 27th.

Though the New Zealand driver said he feels more competitive and comfortable on short tracks such as Richmond, his inexperience remains a major hurdle. At Richmond, the rookie tried to improve by studying the laps of Hamlin and Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain.

“Different tracks might be different people,” van Gisbergen said. “Look at who stands out and just try and emulate what they’re doing.”

Up next

The Cup Series regular season will conclude next Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. Harrison Burton is the defending race winner but will be absent from the entry list after losing his ride and moving to the Xfinity Series this season.

Vladimir Putin made demands to take control of key regions of Ukraine during his talks with Donald Trump, it has been widely reported, as a condition for ending the war.

During their summit in Alaska, the Russian leader is said to have told the US president he wants the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions – and would give up other Ukrainian territories held by his troops in exchange.

The plans were reported by several news outlets, citing sources close to the matter, as Mr Trump scheduled a further meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington DC for Monday. He has said this could potentially pave the way for a three-way meeting with Mr Putin.

Mr Trump reportedly backs the plans, according to some outlets – but Mr Zelenskyy has previously ruled out formally handing any territory to Moscow. Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014.

US-Russia talks on Ukraine – latest updates

Details of the plans emerged after little was revealed during the high-profile summit between the US and Russian leaders on Friday.

Despite threats by the US president beforehand, of sanctions for Russia should there be no agreement on a ceasefire, a short news briefing after the talks ended with no mention of a suspension of fighting, no announced agreement on how to end the war, and little clarity about the next steps.

On Saturday, Mr Trump appeared to change his stance on what he hopes to achieve in Ukraine, indicating he wants a permanent peace settlement rather than a ceasefire.

“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” he said in a post on his social network site, Truth Social.

Trump: ‘Russia is a big power – they’re not’

In an interview with Fox News following the summit, Mr Trump signalled he and Putin had discussed land transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine, and had “largely agreed”. He said Ukraine has to made a deal, as “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not”.

Monday’s meeting at the White House will be the Ukrainian president’s second this year. His last descended into a fiery spat with Mr Trump and his vice president JD Vance, which saw him leave early.

After the fresh meeting was announced, Mr Zelenskyy in a post on X that he was grateful for the invitation.

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“It is important that everyone agrees there needs to be a conversation at the level of leaders to clarify all the details and determine which steps are necessary and will work,” he said.

However, he said Russia had rebuffed “numerous calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined when it will stop the killing”, which “complicates the situation”.

Mr Zelenskyy continued: “If they lack the will to carry out a simple order to stop the strikes, it may take a lot of effort to get Russia to have the will to implement far greater – peaceful coexistence with its neighbours for decades.

“But together we are working for peace and security. Stopping the killing is a key element of stopping the war.”

Putin releases statement on summit

In a statement on the summit, Mr Putin described the talks as “timely and quite useful” – but said the “removal” of what he calls the “root causes” of the crisis “must underlie the settlement”.

He continued: “We definitely respect the US administration’s position which wants the hostilities to stop as soon as possible. So do we, and we would like to move forward with settling all issues by peaceful means.

“The conversation was very frank and substantive, which, in my view, moves us closer towards making necessary decisions.”

European leaders who make up the “coalition of the willing” are set to hold a conference call today ahead of the crunch talks between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will host the video conference.

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In a statement on Saturday,Sir Keir said Mr Trump’s efforts had “brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine” and that his leadership “in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended”.

He said he supported the next phase of talks, but added: “In the meantime, until (Putin) stops his barbaric assault, we will keep tightening the screws on his war machine with even more sanctions.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military has reported an advance of up to 2km on the Sumy front in the country’s northeast.

“Zones of continuous enemy fire damage are being maintained,” the Ukrainian General Staff said on Telegram. “Ukrainian troops are repelling Russian forces”.

In the early hours of Sunday, a regional governor in Russia said a railway employee had been injured and a power line damaged by a Ukrainian drone attack.

The incident happened in the Voronezh region, Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.