An app supporting our local fishermen - which helped them sell throughout the pandemic - is expanding, but the team behind it needs your help.

Straight Off The Boat was set up last year to enable fishermen to sell their fish straight to customers at West Bay after retail and hospitality had to shut.

A Crowdfunder has been set up to help raise £5,000 to enable this support for local fishermen continues.

Sam Toms, who created the app, said: "The idea started when the food outlets had to shut and caused the prices on the market to go down dramatically.

"It was originally built for my dad who is a commercial fisherman.

"We designed a system that would allow fishermen to sell their fish at any time - not just a set time - because fishermen need flexible times to sell due to weather, they need to be fishing and making money, not docked waiting for customers.

"The system sends out an alert within a seven-mile radius when a boat has fish to let customers know a time to come down and buy it."

The app was successful through lockdown with a growing customer base of more than 650, and as well as information and alerts on when a fisherman is coming into West Bay with a catch, there is also recipes and information on a range of fish.

Flat prices are set for all the fish and fishermen get 100 per cent of the sale price if they are signed up to the service and sell locally.

The expansion wants to make further improvements to the app and take it nationwide so all small boats can benefit from it and in order to do this, they need a premises and staff member.

Straight Off The Boat aims to bring on many more fishermen to the platform and grow the number of fishermen that can reconnect with their local community once again. As well as this the team is on a mission to sell the freshest fish possible and do not endorse any kind of aggressive fishing methods or fishing methods that destroy the environment.

Sam added: "Through our social media, we have encouraged customers to buy more seasonal, lesser-known fish, which I think is the best thing, and got them to care about where it comes from."

To find out more about Straight Off The Boat and to donate, visit crowdfunder.co.uk.

You can also download the app for iOS and Android on the app store.

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