Maria is one of the last boats afloat still able to go stowboating – fishing in the traditional Essex way.

Stowboating involves suspending a conical net beneath boat while anchored. The tide does the rest, hopefully sweeping fish into the net. it might be though of as a lazy man’s way to fish – but there’s a lot of gear to handle, much of which is very heavy!  This diagram below explains how it all works – click on it for a larger version.

Though it’s now fallen out of favour, stowboating is still effective – as these pictures of a late autumn catch show.