Sally Barnes is the founder of Woodcock Smokery in West Cork and one of the world’s most respected voices on wild fish, traditional food preservation, and sustainable fishing.

She began smoke-curing fish in 1979 to preserve the wild Atlantic catch she and her then husband were landing off the West Cork coast, establishing Woodcock Smokery in 1981. A fisherwoman and former commercial fisherman’s wife, Sally taught herself traditional smoking techniques through hands-on trial and error. Today, she works exclusively with wild fish, producing small-batch, traditionally smoked fish prized by chefs for its purity, restraint, and integrity. Her cold-smoked Wild Atlantic Salmon earned Ireland’s first Supreme Champion Award at the Great Taste Awards in 2006.

Alongside the smokery, Sally operates The Keep, her fish-smoking school in West Cork, where she teaches traditional smoking, coastal foraging, and responsible sourcing to chefs, students, and food lovers.

Her contribution to Irish food has been widely recognised, including the Euro-Toques Ireland Craft Award (2018), the Irish Food Writers’ Guild Lifetime Achievement Award (2022), and Georgina Campbell’s Movers & Shakers Award (2024). In 2025, Sally was invited to speak at the United Nations in Geneva on gender equality and sustainability in global food systems. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Financial Times, The Irish Times, BBC Travel, and Dan Saladino’s book 'Eating to Extinction'.

A lifelong Slow Fish advocate, she continues to travel internationally to speak and teach on wild fish and ocean stewardship and is currently writing her first book.

‍