Cornish Hake on the table in Honiton.

Hake dish from chef James Baxter

@AjaxAH32 my latest hake dish with river Exe mussels .....keep it up, the hake's going down a storm at the moment - !pic.twitter.com/LApE4cJ6- latest creation from chef James Baxter at the Holt in Honton, Devon. 

For sale, 4.5 tonnes of Cornish Hake courtesy of the Ajax AH32..

Flying visit from the Samway's fish team chat to local fish auctioneer Robin Turner as a trip of beam trawl fish is sold.......

there's signs of a few herring off Cornish shores.......

the tally book shows just what the Ajax put ashore during the night after a long week at sea......

looking good, big, bright, bulging eyes on today's catch......

a sure sign of quality fish.........

the bulk of the fish were in the 2-3 kilo range.......

good to see so many scales.......

a 31 kilo monk, landed whole.......

close-up of the monk's mouth, showing the 'beard', designed to resemble seaweed as the fish's mouth rests on the bottom waiting for its unsuspecting prey to pass close by..............

the full extent of the trip from the Ajax.........

one of the week's jobs to do, get the mizzen sail repaired.

Ajax AH32, the first fishing boat in England to use Twitter!

Ajax AH32, the Newlyn gillnetter that fishes exclusively for hake has become the first fishing vessel in England to use Twitter to report her daily catches live from sea. Skipper Alan Dwan from Waterford in Ireland will test the technology next week as part of an ongoing campaign to create a stronger market for his catch.  

The Ajax's Fisherman owner, Andrew Pascoe is one of several Newlyn skippers striving for accreditation for a fish species that seems to have dipped under the horizon for the country's top chefs and restaurants. Probably the most versatile fish landed on the market at Newlyn - and definitely the most underrated - hake prices are often lower now than they were 20 years ago as this invoice for a landing made in 1991 shows!

These prices are for fish weighed in stones - the 2-4 kilo hake at £10 per stone equate to around £1.50 (10/6.2)  per kilo - which is what these fish have been making during the summer months!

With a smaller fleet working the fishery hake catches remain steady throughout the year ensuring continuity of supply with the net boats fishing over the neap tides. One possible new market now being explored is for deep fried hake - the local fish and chip shop Lewis' can't sell their new line quick enough!


Through the Gaps has created a special, "Newlyn Hake Fishing" Twitter alert box on the home page of the blog - hopefully skipper Alan will find the time in between hauling and shooting to tweet direct from the wheelhouse!