Mackerel mayhem avoided! - MMO clarifies the situation for South West Handliners.

Quota secured for mackerel handline fishery in South West and Wales



The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has clarified that the handliners west coast mackerel fishery remains open. The MMO secured extra quota, and a further 50 tonnes is now available.

Liz Humphreys, Chief Marine Officer said “We are committed to keeping fishermen up to date, and the handline west coast mackerel fishery was listed in our weekly website notices detailing the potential closure. This does not mean the fishery was to close, and we have been working hard to gain extra quota.


"The fishery remains open with the extra quota secured, and we recognise the importance of the handline mackerel fishery for its sustainable and low impact fishing method.”


Quotas are set annually by the European Commission, and the MMO has the difficult balancing task of ensuring that stocks are managed throughout the year to maximise the fishing opportunities for the UK industry, whilst ensuring that stocks are not overfished and the UK government and taxpayer does not have to pay steep penalties.


The MMO has helped to gain nearly £4million worth of fish for the inshore fleet in 2010 so far, through arranging swaps and gifts of quota. Quotas worth £1.5 million were swapped out in the same period, giving a £2.5 million gain for the industry as a whole.


The west coast mackerel fishery (excluding handliners in areas VIIe to VIIh) is closed for the under 10 metre pool.

Monumental mismanagement? - has the MMO created mackerel mayhem?

Mackerel handliner making for home in a stiff Northerly breeze.

Chaos theory has it that the beat of a butterfly in China can affect the weather here in the UK - however tenuous the link you might be forgiven in thinking that no such similar repercussions could occur between the UK and Iceland with regard to mackerel - but, this week it would seem that, with around 400 tons of mackerel being gifted away to Iceland, the families of around 100 mackerel men now face a winter of starvation as, for many, their sole source of income has been wrested away from them courtesy of a mackerel swap by the MMO.

Shades of the Icelandic Cod Wars!

Hauling the trawl, and then the skipper appears to have had enough....


footage before and after the collision.......

The BBC carries a story covering the video footage leaked to Google's Youtube site.

Ties between China and Japan have been strained by a territorial row over a group of islands, known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China. Here, the BBC looks at the background to the row.

Fryderyk Chopin update.

The 36 trainees who were taking part on a four month sailing trip to the Caribbean on board the "Fryderyk Chopin" are to return home. They are currently staying at a hostel in Penzance, Cornwall. The European Higher School of Administration and Law in Warsaw, has paid for the kids’ accommodation until Nov 9. If the vessel is repaired in situ, the children will return to carry on their with training cruise to the Caribbean. It has been reported that the "Fryderyk Chopin" might be repaired in the Baltic port of Gdynia, although the children would not be allowed to travel with the damaged ship from Falmouth to Gdynia. Works to repair the damaged masts on the "Fryderyk Chopin" are pending a decision by the ship’s insurers, PZU. Inspectors have been onboard the ship three times to examine the damages, with the ship also having undergone inspections by the Polish Shipping Register. Apart from the masts and rigging, everything else is in working order.


Courtesy of VesselTracker.

The weather situation.

This chart shows the relationship between the wind speed and barometric pressure as the year's deepest area of low pressure traversed the region overnight - just as in the centre of a hurricane, the 'eye' of the storm, the wind decreases to almost nothing as it passes through.......

962 millibars is very low, the chart shows how the wind will have swept in from the south west and now, as the centre passes, the wind veers (counter-clockwise in the Southern hemisphere) north easterly........

the maximum wave height tends to build as the front hits the area - in this case the readings were taken from the Sevenstones Lightship anchored between Land's End and the Scillies.

the first wind bound Breton boat for the winter, the Eridan, is in Newlyn at the moment - she's looking to chase John Dory's off the Scillies once the wind abates.
 

Old fisherman's saying, "Better in looking out than out looking in"

 When the weather is inclement, sat indoors looking out over the sea safe in the comfort of an old arm chair takes some beating - here the only Art Deco cottage on Penzance seafront, a few yards down from the Yacht Inn and Jubilee Pool, provides a change from the traditional Cornisg granite holiday cottage - just the venue for a mystery murder game.......

 it's one of around a dozen period buildings in and around the town.

How long is the shell of a cuttle?

Just started collating data on cuttlefish landings - the messiest measuring job of the lot - hopefully this will provide solid evidence of landings and growth patterns for any future stock assessments - not having a track record can prove catastrophic.......

Jake's old ship continues to land a good mix of quality fish......

though these red  mullet might look the business (and not from the Go for It).......

this is what they can look like when landed in top condition.....

the newly painted letters on the Govenek of Ladram are showing signs of wear from steaming in poor weather it seems.......

five beamers landed to the market this morning, and then one late arrival gets her boxes ashore and not a cuttle is sight......

Tom's watching all points of the compass......

latest job in Penzance Dry Dock is the tall ship, Earl of Pembroke.......

the resident fleet of swans enjoy breakfast in the shore break.......

the old Jamaica registered Sea King, moved to a berth outside the dock for the first time in nearly twenty years!