My Fishing Life

’A beautiful, heartfelt love letter to the sea, and a cherished industry. Ash is a force of nature, she’s a testament to working hard and dreaming big’ Dermot O’Leary

Ashley Mullenger had never planned to become a fisherman. A chance fishing trip - catching mackerel off the Norfolk coast - was the start of an obsession. One that resulted in a transformation from clean-cut office worker to commercial ’Fisherman of the Year’, and proud working owner of two boats, Fairlass and Saoirse, alongside skipper Nigel.

This is a memoir of that journey, a life swept up in tides and elements, strength of mind and body, of old ways and new struggles. It’s about the bravery of crews, early mornings, weather-beaten characters and those that can sink pints as fast as they can haul pots. These coastal communities and age-old livelihoods are built on trust, courage and skill - but they are also fraying against politics, poverty and climate change. The reality of commercial fishing is rarely seen, but Ashley carries us across the waves and around the UK’s waters in vivid detail to show what is really happening at sea to land the fish on our plates.

My Fishing Life is both a rallying cry and a love letter, rinsed down with salty humour, to an industry often misunderstood. One woman’s unique story of boat, skipper, sea and catch ultimately becomes a transformative view of a world that impacts deeply on us all.

Ashley Mullenger is a 35-year-old commercial fisherman working off the North Norfolk coast. She is one of the few women working in the industry and was named ’Fisherman of the Year’ in 2022. Advocating for better representation and equality in the industry (only 2% of crew members are women), as well as raising awareness of issues the fishing communities are facing, she has built a following on social media: 9k Instagram followers and 6k on TikTok (with some videos viewed over 600k times). She shows daily life in fishing and encourages others to take up the profession.