Now there’s just one. Meet Mark Arblaster.

A former journalist, he decided to trade his laptop for nets and waders eight years ago and took to the water.

It’s in his blood after all. His family moved to the area and started fishing in the late 1800s.

He watched and admired his father’s graft and skill so decided to pack in the city life.

“The type of fishing he did was different to what I do but he passed down some very important advice,” he said.

“He taught me that fishing is all about the long haul. You’ve got to go to work every day regardless of how good the previous day’s catch was.

“It is like farming. There are immense periods of hardship as it’s an occupation that depends on good weather, rainfall, the moon, tides and winds. You just have to keep plugging away.”

Life as a fishermen is hard. The hours are long and they change day-by-day.

It is physical, mentally draining and with ever-tightening restrictions and pressures from government it is becoming harder and harder to make a living.

He fears that once he’s gone, that will be it for commercial fishing on Pittwater.

“It is tough but I enjoy the challenge,” he said.

“I’m reluctant to sign off on 130 years of family history of fishing on Pittwater.”

In an effort to document and celebrate his skill, award-winning Balgowlah photographer Urs Buhlman went out with Mr Arblaster over a series of weeks for a photo book called Last of the Pittwater Beach Haulers.

“It was fascinating to go out with him and see how he works and his passion and professionalism,” Mr Buhlman said.

“Everything he does is about the quality of the fish. He is known for his quality at the markets and you can understand why given the care he has for the product.”

Commercial fisherman often get a bad rap and are being blamed for everything from depleting fish stocks to polluting waters with marine debris.

But Mr Arblaster is acutely aware that if he looks after Pittwater, Pittwater will look after him.

“I might take 200 kilo of fish to market but I could have caught five times that amount,” he said. “Because of where I work I have to manage the catch and I have to make sure that all my bycatch swims away.

“My attitude is if I only catch half as much but look after it twice as well then that has a lesser impact on fish stocks, it is less handling for myself and I can also guarantee the quality of what I catch.”

Sydney’s top restaurants and fish retailers look out for him at market with the knowledge his catch will be of the highest quality.

For photographer Mr Buhlman, he has never seen anything like it. “His biggest expense is not fuel, it’s ice. By the time they get to market they still look like they’ve just come out the water.

“That’s why he can get such a high price for his catch.”

While a lot of commercial fishing and farming is aided by hi-tech machinery these days, Mr Arblaster’s methods are very traditional.

He goes out with two boats, a net and a bit of muscle, often in the form of friend Adam Hillier and his faithful blue healer Jess.

One boat acts as the anchor boat while Mr Arblaster drives out the other — which is carrying the nets. They then manually haul in the nets to reveal their catch.

Jess is integral to the operation. As when the nets are pulled in, pelicans and sea eagles appear from nowhere.

“She’s a good swimmer and she deters them,” Mr Buhlman said. “The sea eagles recognise the sound of the winch but they are happy if you throw them a fish into the shallows. But the pelicans are greedy. You need Jess to deter them.”

Mr Arblaster says he often takes a tonne of ice out with him on a catch.

The fish — which include silver trevally, black bream, sand whiting, squid, silver biddies and mulloway — are placed straight into the ice to keep them fresh.

They are then boxed with care and then taken to Sydney Fish Markets where leading restaurateurs and retailers pay top dollar.

“It is hard work but I take great pride in my work,” he said. “I’m determined to keep going as long as I can make a living out of it.”

Read more at ursbuhlman.com.