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The rich fishing grounds of St Ives Bay have supported the fishermen of two ports for generations: Hayle in the east and St Ives to the west.

At the heart of Hayle is the harbour, established by the Victorians and now a UNESCO world heritage site. This was once one of the world’s richest mining regions, and from this vast industrial port, both minerals and Cornish-built mine engines were sent across the seas and around the world. But the wealth that once flowed through the harbour has long since disappeared.

A vast new development is now underway in the harbour, of a scale and ambition to match the town’s Victorian engineers. Simon Wright is the group chief executive of property developer Corinthian Homes. With hundreds of homes and new leisure facilities under construction, his building project is the biggest in the South West. The developers are the new landlords for the fishermen, and the fishermen’s working area – where they mend their nets and store their gear – sits on a prime piece of real estate with direct access to the beaches.

With their compound right next door to the first residential properties under construction – waterfront townhouses with prices tags in excess of half a million – the fishermen fear that their days working from there may be numbered. Fears are heightened when the developer's artist's impressions show them airbrushed from the completed project.