Classic lines captured on canvas in Newlyn.

When I grow up I definitely don't want to be like one of those said the Spirited Lady III...

as classic boats go, the Irene has a unique historical connection with the area, her first voyage after being launched in 1907 was ta cargo destined for Penzance...

an early-morning and subject worthy of attention from local artist Clare Bowen and visiting Michael Harding oil paint evangelist Vicky Norman...

as they take advantage of the stunning Mounts Bay morning optics...

who, for some unknown reason, chose to ignore the less beguiling lines of these modern plastic vessels...

the wings are folded which means there is still plenty of work needed to before the billy Rowney can dip her beam trawls back in the water in earnest...

meanwhile, on the end of the Mary Williams pier Brackan is busy taking off the Icelandic Polar trawl doors...

from the Spirited Lady III...

ably supported by a previous generation of the sea who no doubt can hear Freddie Howes, long-gone Newlyn skipper's oft repeated mantra, "100 years ago they had f*****g donkeys to pull stuff down the quay" echoing in his ears...

the classic lines of Mevagissey tosher Puffin steam past the action on the quay...

keeping an eye on the net drum unwinding...

as the trawl is pulled on to the quay

and guided away form the ladder...

never happier than when at sea...

Sheila T, a tosher with a very different set of lines heads back to her pontoon berth...

as skipper Brackan helps take the shore ropes before landing...

 later on Sunday evening at 9pm setting a course for Devon...

and a rendevous with the pilot at 0730 on Monday morning tasked to guide the boat on an interesting voyage some three miles inland past historic Dartmouth and up the river Dart to Totnes, before work starts on a major refit of the deckhouse and gantry.

UK-EU Fisheries Agreement: Taking Stock - the NFFO's considered view:

 

The UK and EU have just concluded their first annual bilateral fisheries agreement made under the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The negotiations and annual agreement have been heavily shaped and constrained by the limitations imposed by the TCA. The outcomes also reflect the UK’s new legal status as an independent coastal state. The tensions created by these two divergent trajectories go a long way to explaining the shape and content of the deal for 2021.

Total Allowable Catches and Regulatory Autonomy

Total Allowable catches for jointly managed stocks have now been agreed as part of the deal but these only reflect the provisional determinations already set unilaterally by the UK in May. A formula within the TCA linked to the most recent ICES advice constrains the range within which autonomous quotas can be set.

It is in details like the conditions attached to particular TACs that the political trial of strength is visible. The UK’s determination to go its own way on fisheries (within the confines of the TCA) and the EU’s efforts to constrain divergence as much as possible, are apparent in the compromises made. The TCA requires the parties to work together on the management of shared stocks but also enshrines recognition that in the final analysis each party has the right to regulatory autonomy to manage the fisheries within its own respective zone.

The issues which have delayed reaching a deal until almost 6 months into the year to which it applies all relate to this fundamental tension.

https://www.nffo.org.uk/uk-eu-fisheries-agreement-for-2021/

Non-quota Stocks

The issue which reflects the terms of the TCA, but also throws up the most difficult management issues for the future, are the tonnage limits which will apply to catches of non-quota species like scallop, crab, red mullet, sardine, whelk, lemon sole and many others. The parties have fought themselves to a standstill and have now agreed that it is too late in the year to apply the tonnage limits. Designed as a cap to prevent the displacement onto stocks that are economically valuable but for which data is limited, the implementation of the tonnage limits will now be referred to the Specialised Committee on Fisheries (SCF). Get used to those initials because they will be where most bilateral fisheries management issues will now be addressed.

 Bass

The influence of regulatory autonomy is evident not only where the UK overtly adopts its own management measures (which will apply to all vessels operating within the UK EEZ), but also where the negotiation outcomes have been shaped by the new balance of power.

An example is in the agreed negotiation outcome on bass. Although this was an agreed common approach, it is one which shifts the conservation measures more towards the UK’s preference to allow more scope to land a higher proportion of unavoidable bycatch rather than discard them dead. This will not go far enough for those who are seeing an abundance of bass in their local waters but does point to the fact that the UK is no longer a supplicant member state, easily corralled, by the Commission.

Celtic Sea Technical Measures

The agreement for 2021 acknowledges that the UK will unilaterally apply strengthened selectivity measures in the Celtic Sea. There is a suspicion that the Commission is not unhappy with this development, as its own plans faced opposition from member states. The views of some member states may differ.

Mixed Fisheries Management

The annual agreement contains language on the future management of mixed fisheries which also points to UK influence and movement towards a more reality-based approach which recognizes the need for carefully balanced trade-offs, rather than one-size-fits-all CFP rigidity. This could represent a breakthrough after years of trying to fit zero-TAC advice to complex mixed fisheries situations. In truth, the EU routinely departed from zero TAC advice based on single stock assessments. We can see in the agreed record, though, the beginnings of a refreshing reality-based approach which can balance rebuilding weak stocks in a mixed fishery configuration, whilst maintaining the socio-economic fabric of the fishing communities dependent on those stocks. Looking back, we may see this as an important, even historic, breakthrough.

Discards

Another area in which the fresh shoots of divergence can be seen is in the treatment of discard policy. The EU landing obligation has proved (as anticipated by many) to be a crude, ineffectual, approach to minimising unwanted catch. Whilst the EU is tied into maintaining its landing obligation for the immediate future, the UK is now in a position to develop more agile alternatives which reduce the threat of chokes in mixed fisheries. An initial departure can be seen in relation to the treatment of exemptions and TAC reductions in the annual agreement. Developing a tailored discard policy, most likely as part of individual fisheries management plans, as envisaged by the Fisheries Act will be a UK priority.

Specialised Committee for Fisheries

An idea of the range and significance of the new Specialised Committee for Fisheries is seen in the Committee’s first work programme

The Delegations identified the following issues to be discussed in the SCF:

• Skates and rays, paragraph 5(e)

• Terms of reference for Celtic sea mixed fishery advice

• Deep sea stocks

• Stocks with no ICES advice

• Geographic flexibility

• Picked Dogfish (spurdog)

• Footnotes

• Prohibited species

• Management of discards, landing obligation and TAC deductions

• Technical measures

• Multi-year strategies for non-quota stocks

• Later exchanges of data on non-quota stocks

• Bass monitoring, management and assessment

• Big Picture

The annual negotiations with the EU are one important part of a bigger set of negotiations that ultimately have a profound influence on where we can fish, and how, and how much.

The TCA obviously sets the framework for fisheries relations with the EU and enshrines the asymmetric balance on access to each other’s waters and quota shares was at the heart of the Common Fisheries Policy and continues under the TCA. Until 2026, the TCA will shape the outcome of annual negotiations. What happens after that date is an open question. The EU is confident that there are sufficient dissuasive powers within the TCA to make the UK think twice about acting as any other normal coastal state. Time will tell.

The failure to reach fisheries agreements with Norway or Faroes, reflects the turbulent adjustment period before things settle down into a new equilibrium.

Where fishing sits in the Government’s priorities in the interim and around 2026 will be critical. Few predicted that fishing would become a totemic issue within the UK’s departure from the EU, but it was the last issue to be “settled” in the TCA and leaves a lasting and potentially toxic legacy.

Our immediate request will now be for a meeting with Defra/MMO to understand were we have got to in the wake of the TCA and annual negotiations, and what our options might be from moving forward from here.

Agreement covers catch limits for 70 shared fish stocks worth approximately £333m in fishing opportunities to the UK fleet Deal ensures certainty for UK industry with fishing levels set for remainder of 2021 UK and EU to work together on shared sustainability objectives through the Specialised Committee on Fisheries

The UK has now concluded annual fisheries negotiations with the EU, providing certainty for the fishing industry on catch limits for the remainder of 2021.

The catch limits known as Total Allowable Catches have been set for 70 fish stocks and supersede the previous provisional catch limits for 2021.

MMO Harbour Orders and the G7 World Leaders Summit

Carbis Bay and St Ives The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) have been involved in the preparation for the 47th G7 Summit, which is being held between 11 – 13 June at the Carbis Bay Hotel, near St Ives, Cornwall.

The G7 is made up of the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the USA, with the EU participating in discussions. This summit marks the first official foreign visit of US President Joe Biden and will be of particular importance as world leaders focus attention on the ongoing challenges posed by Covid-19 pandemic and climate change.

The MMO is responsible for processing applications for Harbour Orders in England and for certain ports and harbours in Wales. Last month the MMO Harbour Orders team made The St Ives (G7 2021 Summit) Harbour Order which came into force, ahead of the G7 Summit.

St Ives G7 Summit 2021 HRO signed map Harbour Orders are a form of local legislation which either amend existing or introduce new harbour legislation. They are made as a statutory instrument under the Harbours Act 1964 and confer powers on the Statutory Harbour Authority (SHA) for the purpose of improving, maintaining or managing a harbour.

When considering whether a Harbour Order should be made, the MMO must consider whether the application secures the improvement, maintenance or management of the harbour in an efficient and economical manner or of facilitating the efficient and economic transport of goods or passengers by sea. The MMO however is not responsible for the regulation of the day to day functioning and activities of port and harbour authorities.

Cornwall Council (as SHA for St Ives Harbour) required the Harbour Order to extend the harbour limits of St Ives for a temporary period to enable the safe management of harbour activities in St Ives bay during the G7 period. The Harbour Order also enables a restricted zone to be established under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990. The restricted zone would temporarily limit access to the waters adjoining the area around where the G7 Summit is to be held in order to provide additional security to the attending world leaders.

As police assistance will be required to manage the St Ives Bay area during the G7 Summit period, the Order also permits existing police officers to be appointed by a Justice of the Peace to act as constables over the extended harbour area before and during the G7 Summit period.

The St Ives Order is the 9th Harbour Order which the MMO has made as law this year. For further information about Harbour Orders made by the MMO and other applications that we are processing, please see our Harbour Orders public register

If you’d like more information on Harbour Orders please email the MMO team harbourorders@marinemanagement.org.uk

Information is also available online Harbour Orders - GOV.UK

'Tiz a fine #FishyFriday morning in Newlyn.

It's that time of year (June) traditionally when many trawlers take time out for an annual paint-up and overhaul for all those jobs that are critical to keeping the vessel 'shipshape' as many of the fish they normally target have spawned and moved well offshore - the Nowell fleet of beam trawlers including the Louisa N are no exception to this practice...

owner and part-time skipper Mike Nowell has slipped off his shore-side office footwear and donned his work boots for the day to steam the boat, sans derricks, on the short journey to Penzance dock to continue the work...

rust, the enemy of any vessel attacks bare steel withing minutes of being exposed to oxygen in the atmosphere...

the boats aren't the only thing getting a makeover, the harbour offices are being refurbished to include a 30 seat conference room which can be hired from July...

with relatively benign neap tides the hake netters have been seeking their elusive quarry...

with some of them also working tangle nets to fish for turbot...

plaice don't come much bigger than this beauty...

or in better condition than these big reds...

pristine white ray belly-side up...

trawlers always pick up the odd lobster on a trip, scallops are equally rare - they would never have made it to the market when I was on deck, two seconds with the gutting knife and a still-pulsing scallop along with a dash of seawater would be sliding down my throat...

that's if a certain young Billy 'Saffron' Bunn didn't spot the scallop first...

superb ray specimen...

Brackan kept up the haddock tally this trip...

while Tom targeted those delicious JDs...

and a few more reds...

though there still seem to be good shots of lemons for those trawler skippers who know where to tow...

a gathering of gurnards...

no doubt Cap'n Cod would have liked a few full boxes rather than just a covering of the ever-elusive mackerel...

for boats working away north of Lands End there is always the chance of a few langoustine...

bass are still in short supply it seems...

while Dovers are there for the taking fo you have the quota to 'retain them' on board...

grey mullet shoal up at this time of year, though the days when the Sennen Cove men and others around the coast landed huge shots from beach seines are few and far between...

the evil greater weaver, definitely one not to stand on buried in the sand at the likes of Sennen beach, but a superb tasting fish nonetheless...

tubot charged...

Girl Lynn all set for a bottom scrub...

tiz a mizzly misty-morn so they won't be seeing much of the sea views just yet at the G7 summit talks......

breakfast is still being served at the Swordfish as the harbour Cafe is currently closed due to Covid restrictions...

works of art at the Collywomple Gllery next to the Chinese in Newlyn

just in time to enjoy this year's first Penzance Art Trail which includes several venues in Newlyn...

good to see Debbie has lost none of her sense of humour despite having a tough year as landlady of the famous Star Inn, birthplace of the first transoceanic voyage by the Newlyn fishing vessel Mystery...

only in Newlyn would you find a carniverous cactus...

the remains of its last meal discarded beside it...

fast-tracked fresh fish speeds away from Newlyn courtesy of Quayside Transport......

trade must be good if young Mr Smart can afford to feed the harbour's resident seal fresh mackerel!

Vacancies on Newlyn Harbour Commissioner & Advisory Boards.

 

What are we looking for?

Newlyn Pier and Harbour Commissioners, NPHC, are actively recruiting for positions on both the Board of Commission and Advisory Board, in accordance with Newlyn Harbour’s Enabling Act 1906 and Harbour Revision Order 2010.

Newlyn Harbour, is one of the largest Fishing Ports in England and is the gateway to some of the richest fishing grounds, a port of refuge and last port of call before leaping to the Isles of Scilly. NPHC has an ambitious vision to support the fishing Industry beyond Brexit by way of improving infrastructure and upgrading facilities for both the catching and processing sectors, whilst nurturing ambition to diversify in order to incorporate marine renewables in this ever-changing world. Therefore, NPHC is looking to recruit motivated and forward-thinking people to continue our exciting, planned growth.

With Newlyn being home to one of the largest fleets within the UK, coupled with a total value of fish landed to our port at circa £25,000,000 pa, we are keen to build on our present revenue streams whilst exploiting potential growth in all marine sectors. Do you want to be part of this?? 

As a Trust Port we are looking for a broad range of skills from all walks of life so if you think you may not be suited, please think again.

The Role:

• 3 Year voluntary appointment (Expenses offered for Commissioners). 

• Experience of ports is desirable but not essential. A varied skill base will be sought ranging from, Finance, Governance, Stakeholder Engagement, Leisure, Fishing, Local Residents and Marine renewables and much more 

• Successful candidates will be required to attend monthly meetings with occasional need to represent the Harbour on National memberships/functions. 

• Candidates will be required to have input to Port Policy and Strategic Planning and be comfortable liaising with stakeholders ranging from MPs to Local Government to residents and Harbour users 

• National locations will be considered due to dial in facility, however in person attendance preferred

Still Interested?

Please send a covering letter and CV to info@newlynharbour.com clearly stating which board you are applying for, Commissioners or Advisory Board or even both. 

Successful candidates shortlisted for interview will be informed the week commencing 28th June with interviews scheduled early July. If applicants have not heard from us before the 30th June unfortunately you have not been successful this time. 

Any questions please contact the email address above and we will endeavour to answer your questions.

Good Luck!