Pressure!

Up on the slip in the early hours after landing this morning, PZ999 the Jannie En Klaas gets a scrub on the bottom....
on the auction floor Mr Murley gets to talk fish as one of the Jannie En Klaas' cod watches from below.....
this was another one of those days with more empty boxes than full ones on the market floor - Wednesday is always a bad day for export fish because of the transport logistics....it might be well into November, but with the sea temperature around 13 degrees C the Battery Rock swimmers are out in force!

Ice 'n go

The Cornwall Ice Company can supply ice directly to boat alongside the quay or, as in the case here, to a waiting lorry.....for those boats too large to get alongside or for when the tide is wrong.....
another Saturday landing for the crabbing fleet.....
and aboard the Ajax, Jemimah indicates with his fingers to the iceworks how many tonnes of ice is needed.

Quiet night

With a fresh wind still blowing, the first for weeks, the Crystal Sea II waits alongside the ice works conveyor.

Penzance Dock action....

PZ195 shares a berth with a luxury cruiser in Penzance Dry Dock
and over the road fresh Newlyn crab sandwiches are on offer....
ex-Breton trawler still undergoing houseboat conversion in the wet dock...
while the Plymouth University research boat Plymouth Quest continues wwith her refit....
gangway!
over in Newlyn, the Ajax lands mid-tide with another netting trip under her belt, though there is no sign of her sister ship the Carol H going back to sea after her skipper moved on.

Fast fish

Silver and gold!......it's back down the fishroom aboard the Harvest Reaper.....
while aboard the CKS the boxes go back aboard....
whereas these are the fastest fish boxes in the West, traveling at the speed of ligh to be held in the cold store on the market

Silver darlings!

Dennis Pascoe casts a shadowy figure as he makes his way up from the pontoon moorings after putting ice aboard his punt for the next mornings fishing...
Ocean Fish's skipper,Peter on the Resolute gets ready to haul the ring net back aboard...
after sailing this morning at 0530 .....
and catching 15 tonnes of herring...
the boys managed to rip the net and spent all day and evening mending - worse still, when putting the net back aboard the net caught on a small bollard which resulted in another tear!
so its all hands to another hour's mending again!
over on the market, the Pride of Cornwall is puts their shot of herring ashore....
and a full haul at that....
a closer look over the shoulder of the landing crane...



Watch a short video of landing herring to the waiting insulated bins. Crazily this will come to an end almost as soon as the fishery has started as these inshore boats have all but exhausted their quota - the Dutch have the rest even though we won't see a boat of theirs fishing for herring any where near the Bay - what an unjust system we exist in given that the amount caught by these tiny (in comparison to the majority of the Dutch fleet) is but a tiny fraction of the quoat.

Check that chart!

PZ191, always good to come in through the gaps in a flat calm....
Brixham registered ex-fishing boat skipper sorts through the charts...
before setting out on the next leg of her voyage.