Portafino, Italy - where tiny fishing boats share moorings with super-yachts.

When the port you want to visit is so exclusive that there is no public parking there's only one way in - take the boat...

on the way, buildings old and new hug what little sea-level land is available neath the 1000ft Ligurian hills...

harbours, quays and moorings have been created using every inch of shore for the huge number of leaisure boats...

which increase in size the closer to the resort made famous by the super rich, actors, artists and film stars starting in the 50s when the likes of Rex Harrison became a resident there...

on approach, the port itself seems hidden from the outside world...

but as you draw closer there are a few clues as to its status in the 'must visit by luxury yacht'...

before the natural harbour begins to open up...

and the classic Italian architecture sets an almost magical scene...

amongst the dozens of moored leisure craft are old and new examples of the traditional double-ended boats found all the way along the Mediterranean coast...

along with a handful of fishing vessels...

the narrow quayside is home to a number of fishermen's stores...

for the small fleet...

which includes a handful sporting the traditional hull design...

on moorings...

the boats work a variety of lines and nets...

and, as it's the Med, the mesh sizes are small...

along with pots used to catch octopus...

there may even have been a Cornish miner responsible for this fishermen's store carved out of the rock - many of the railways and funicular railway projects in Italy were run by Cornish engineers, notably Robert Trewella from Ludgvan...

the setting might be idyllic...

but today's catch has been limited by time with only 1000 hooks shot as an impending late blow in the day caused the skipper to fish closer to the shore than he would normally have liked.....

 for a few squid...

and bream, some of today's salted anchovies bait remained unused.........

but every fish was stunning in appearance so hopefully, given the exclusive nature of many restaurants and hotels here the prices for the guys are high enough to compensate for the slack fishing...

asking what other bait was used produced a surprising response - frozen mackerel from that ship, the Cornelius Vrolijk that is entitled to 23% (by weight) of the entire UK fish quota...

at the end of the day with the light fading...

there was just enough time to make a quick oil sketch of the fabled fishing port...

that continues to draw so many visitors...

though even those with bottomless pockets, though they might have multi-million pound boats...

like the Lucky Lady, ROE and Phoenix 2 are every bit as limited as visiting motorists are with quayside mooring berths at a premium...

as can be seen in the wake of the visit...

where yet another yacht, Tranquility has dropped anchor a few leagues off the fabled resort. Boats this size are nearing 1 million a week to charter.

Shades of Christmas past, tiz the eve of Christmas Eve in Newlyn - and a small Spanish invasion.

Two Rowse crabbers between trips...

and the Spanish UK-flagged stern trawler, Udra is landing...

the roof is currently being replaced down the end of the North pier...

with the entire Newlyn fleet now berthed at high water

she has been fishing on the Great ole Banks south of Ireland...

and normally lands into Castletownbeare...

but today is making one of her mandatory UK landings...

a condition...

of her Flag of Convenience...

which has seen so many UK licences...

used in that way...

with very little...

by way of economic benefit to the Uk economy as the fish is all save for a token dozen or so boxes all sent back to Spain for their markets......

another crabber gets the now familiar Rowse colours painted... 

back in Newlyn town there's a new shop opened in time for the Christmas break...

a mix of delicatessen, cafe and shop where you can hear old vinyl (LPs) records played on a turntable through Wharefdale speakers and a Leak amplifier - all very retro - there's even a kids' corner stocked with games and other forms of amusement.

Flag ships post-Brexit - a Spanish perspective.

Galician boats of British pavilion will be able to continue fishing after "Brexit"

London says it will maintain rights and license conditions to operate in its waters


They are Galicians, but they sail through the waters waving the flag of the Union Jack. They disguise their ships (80 in particular) with British veils to fish in the fishing grounds of Gran Sol and the North Atlantic, where the European Union has limited entry to the Spanish fleet, hungry for quotas. In Galicia they are known shipowners in the ports of Vigo, O Morrazo, Burela, Celeiro or A Coruña, but for their Anglo-Saxon competitors they are pirates who, instead of raiding and looting in the old way, have adopted the strange habit of paying licenses. and taxes to the authorities of the United Kingdom to be able to fish with Galician staff in their territorial waters. And the British fishermen want them out of their seas. With the Brexit they have seen a golden opportunity to expel them and put an end to quota-hopping , as they have called this supposed pillage of their fishing resources. Despite the enormous pressure they have exerted on the Government of Theresa May, the negotiating team of the prime minister is not about the task of taking up arms against the twenty-seven to satisfy historical accountability of her fleet. Not even if the United Kingdom leaves the EU on March 29, 2019 without an amicable divorce agreement.


THE AGREEMENT:

Legal security to continue working. According to the latest working documents of Downing Street, the British Government would be willing to offer legal security to the Galician ships of the British flag to continue fishing after Brexit . "There will be no changes in the rights and responsibilities of vessels registered in the United Kingdom that fish in British waters. They will continue to abide by the respective legislation and the license conditions, including the linked economic criteria ", explained in those documents, without clarifying whether they will continue to issue new permits in the future. 

FIRST QUESTIONS:

What quotas will there be? Can they disembark in Galicia? Ships will be exposed to the arbitrary decision of the British fishing authorities. "We will communicate to the interested parties what their corresponding allocation will be," the document suggests. On the disembarkation in the Galician ports, in the absence of an agreement on Brexit , the EU will close the doors: "There will be no automatic access for British flag vessels to Community or third-country waters (...) British flag will no longer have automatic right to land fish in any EU port" And it will also be vice versa. So the Galician ships that work in the Falklands will have to look for alternative fishing grounds if the EU and the United Kingdom do not extend a truce. 

MARKETING:

The same standards. The United Kingdom expects a left hand from Brussels regarding the commercialisation of fishery products and the mutual access of vessels to ports on both sides of the English Channel, upon notification. London is willing, if it were not possible to close a global agreement, to submit to the same rules of EU control and labeling: "The standards will remain the same, including those that regulate quality, size, weight, packaging, presentation, labeling and minimum sizes of commercialisation ", they assure.

THE EXPORT:

Same certificates. British and EU exporters must request a catch certificate detailing all the information required by the EU today: name of the species, date, method of capture and conservation ... The document should be sent to the competent Port Health Authority to be checked at least three days before the estimated date of arrival at port. Despite the anticipation of the change of rules, the British presage a great impact on supply chains: "Trade is vital, including for aquaculture and the processing sector, so it is important that our new fishing regime allows the industry commercial with the current and new markets". The EU has made it clear that the exit will have a cost. There will be no exchanges if mutual access to the waters is not guaranteed.

Translated by Google from LavozdeGalicia

Monday morning at Newlyn Fish Market

First of the hake netters to land this week after last week's huge equinoctial spring tide...

and the chance to use one of the harbour's new pallet trucks, though...

finding enough pallets to stack the fish boxes on was another matter, luckily young Edwin was on hand...

this week's hake...

come in all sizes...

with summer behind him young Roger Nowell has turned his attention to catching ray, nice landing of blondes, stars and undulate...

and the odd bull huss...

these top quality red mullet were soon sold...

while auctioneer Ian moved on to a landing from the beam trawler, Cornishman...

which included some whiter-than-white brill...

cuckoo ray...

lemon sole...

haddock...

no danger of this shark losing its fins...

all set for tomorrow's auction, fish from the Amanda of Ladram...

the beady eye of the shark keeping an eye on the auction in progress...

there were just a few boxes of John Dory from the inshore boats...

along with some handline pollack...

and mackerel...

male rays have large claspers that they use for reproduction - buried under soft flaps of skin are a series of hook-like appendages...

name this fish...

plate sized turbot...

the tub gurnard, ask your local fishmonger for this fish - a treat indeed...

gridlocked forklifts at the market...

having steamed from her home port of Vigo nearly two weeks ago the Spanish Flag of Convenience vessel, Udra has called in to Newlyn to make one of her token fish landings in order to meet the regulations that apply to such vessels...

the size of the main winch drums tells you that she works her trawls in very deep water - up to and over 100 fathoms - the top layers visible on the drums are  'combination' - a mix of wire warp and polypropylene that is used for the long bridles - combination does not 'dig' into the seabed like wire bridles would on the softer ground that these boats work on...

the trawl is hauled up and over the stern of the boat along the trawl deck and then passed down below for getting and washing...

the boat carries a huge amount of spare trawls and net...

 - a necessity when you are working what would be a four day round trip just to get back to Vigo from the fishing grounds SW of Ireland...

the Udra in the deepest quayside berth in the harbour...

on a very murky Monday morning.