Haven't seen a pair of these for years! Developed by a local sailmaker and surfer back in the late 1970s, these neoprene rubber (wetsuit material) sleevelets were worn under the protective rubber gloves and over oilskin or smock sleeves by fishermen to reduce chaffing during the winter months when handlining for mackerel or later, netting
they also provided additional protection against the razor-sharp spiny bucklers of fish like the thornback ray, dogfish...
and gurnards...
treat yourself to some big flaky turbot steaks every now and then...
or some super-fresh squid...
mackerel...
or even better, lined bass caught by the Cod-father himself fishing aboard his boat, Butts...
or in no particular order of quality some sweet monk tails...
delicate Dover sole...
or, hugely popular among many local fishermen as a treat when at sea, lemon sole...
one fish that is one of the port's biggest earners but still largely consumed abroad rather then in the UK...
is the megrim or Cornish Sole, staple catch of the beam trawl fleet like the William Sampson...
long before somebody thought of fingerprinting as a means of identification the fish that, according to folklore, bears the thumbprint of St Peter is the John Dory...
while all of the fleet whether using trawl, beam trawl or gill net cannot help but catch what was once rarely seen, the humble haddock - another fish blessed with a thumbprint-like mark just behind the head but without being awarded such religious significance...
though none of these facts matter to the buyers who are solely interested in getting the right fish at the right price for their, but-a-phone-call-away customers...
a solitary box of cuttles on the market this morning - this time last year over 47,000kg of cuttles were landed in a single week on the market in Newlyn...
young Mr Hosking, like all the other Newlyn crab boats, is about to clear the fish market and head out to sea hoping that after storm Callum ravaged the south west that his strings of pots are where he left them last week.
