Police over Penzance as Queen arrives by train.

A police helicopter hovers over the town centre as the Queen arrives at Penzance railway station before she travels to the Scillys for the day.

No6 makes it dish No4!

Photo courtesy of No6 Padstow.

Paul Ainsworth from the No6 restaurant in Padstow just scrapes in to the Great British Menu final with his pudding dish. The judges gave him two nines and two tens for his fairground celebration dish.


Watch the final episode before the street party itself with its finalist's dishes at the historic Leadenhall Market.

African fishermen's plea as exploitation threatens livelihoods

© Phil Lockley 2011.

Small-boat fishermen from across Africa may be financially wiped out if bulk fishing off their shores by European boats continues, industry leaders across the South West have been told.  Fisherman from Cape Verde, Mauritania and Senegal were part of a delegation to visit Westcountry colleagues in an effort to spread warnings about their plight. A spokesman from Greenpeace, which organised the African Voices' trip to Newlyn Harbour, said: "The disastrous effects of overfishing by European fleets aren't confined to our continent's waters. Destructive European Union vessels are now exploiting the waters of the world's poorest nations, threatening ecosystems and depriving local fishermen of their livelihoods and the food security of their communities."

The delegation met Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon before taking in a tour of Newlyn market and exploring inshore vessels. An open meeting held later at the Fishermen's Mission allowed local seafarers to share their experiences. Celestino Oliveira, from Cape Verde, said: "Yes, our fishermen need to get together, but we must also focus our attention on fish suppliers and European retailers, supermarkets, right down to the people who eat those fish. "In reforming the Common Fisheries Policy in 2013 please don't forget us – look upon sustainability and the effects of your actions before you fish in our waters.
"You need to make money, our governments sign agreements with the EU, you rightfully wish to eat those fish. So why is it that our countries are signing those licences? Because monies coming as a result are vital to underdeveloped economies. "We have no resources to police your boats – the problem is not the licences issued in good faith, but the amount of illegal and unreported fishing that takes place as a result. "We are allowed to take 32,000 tons of tuna per year, but that represents just a quarter of the stocks we had available in the 1980s – yet to us tuna fishing provides jobs for a significant proportion of the country's population. So three-quarters of the stocks on which to fish have disappeared in the last 30 years."


Newlyn fish merchant Nick Howell talked of the Cornish handline mackerel fishermen's plight 30 years ago, fighting against large pelagic trawlers from Scotland, describing it as a parallel to the African Voices. He said: "What if we (in the UK) could never eat another fish? We would survive and move immediately to another protein source – fish is just another choice on the plate. "But those countries would literally starve as fish is at least 60 per cent of their protein, and 80 per cent of those entire communities are directly involved with small-scale fishing."


Newlyn small boat fisherman and boatbuilder Peter Downing said: "Your governments must get their act together. I have been to Gambia many times over the past 20 years, watched your fishermen and fish markets dwindle, and have seen the bigger boats come into your waters and take prime fish.
"The local markets and fishing communities are really suffering."

Genetics comes to a fish slab near you!

This is the lead paragraph from an article in the New York Times published recentlly - coinciding with moves in Brussels to use genetic or DNA testing to prove the provenance of fish in your local supermarket, restaurant or shop!

"Scientists aiming their gene sequencers at commercial seafood are discovering rampant labeling fraud in supermarket coolers and restaurant tables: cheap fish is often substituted for expensive fillets, and overfished species are passed off as fish whose numbers are plentiful."

Read the full article here.

From the Cornishman - Newlyn Harbour's commission on brink of collapse as trio are ousted

NEWLYN'S harbour commission is on the brink of collapse after a shock secret ballot saw three members dismissed.

Nick Howell, John Lambourn and Juliet Taylor were all kicked off the port authority on Tuesday afternoon in a last-minute vote that has been slammed as a breach of the commission's guidelines. Another member, Dave Munday, resigned yesterday in protest over the "grossly unfair" decision. With vice-chairman Ray Tovey leaving for a new post with Cornwall Council and Andrew Bell's post not filled, that leaves just six commissioners remaining on the board: chairman Gilbert McCabe; Mike Collier; Kevin Bennetts; Andrew Munson; Dave Stevens; and Elizabeth Stevenson.

Local representatives have called for the Department for Transport to step in and disband the commission after the drama unfolded right at the end of its first year. They have also called for the resignation of Mr McCabe – who has pledged transparency in the past – over the surprise ousting of three of its most dedicated members. "I cannot work with a commission that has been so discredited," said Mr Munday, who stepped down "with great sadness" on Wednesday. "I believe the board is completely undermined and has brought itself into disrepute. It should be dissolved and the DfT be asked to take over the management of the port until a new board can be appointed."

The commission caused controversy last August when it rejected funding for a new fish market in the port.
Fiona Thomas-Lambourn, a member of the commission's advisory body, said: "Do you really want Newlyn harbour to die on its feet and only have commissioners who (by their relation to the harbour) are forced to be 'yes people' and not free-thinking?" Nick Howell questioned whether the move to remove him, brought under Article 11 of the commission's rules, was valid. "It's a wrong way of conducting business and has a bad reflection on the Department for Transport," he said. "Article 11 states commissioners can only be asked to leave if they die, don't attend meetings or bring the commission into disrepute," he said. "They said we were not working together but that comes down to the chairman and he has to make us work together.
"A few of us have been saying for a while that we should be following the guide for good governance; we have been here for a year and we have not done it."

John Lambourn was disappointed the commission, which was set up in June 2010 after the previous authority was disbanded, looked set to crumble once more. "We were actually making progress and getting to the point where we were reaching some clear decisions," he said, adding that the trio were given the boot without any discussion. "I pleaded for a meeting to see where our differences were and if we could come to an agreement. "It looks like slipping back into the old slot, and where will hope be included in that slot?"

Juliet Taylor, who had been chairing the assets committee, said chairman Mr McCabe had to be accountable for what had happened. "It is not transparent and it is not constitutional," she said. "They gave no reason for what they did."

The remaining commissioners, included Mr McCabe, were not available for comment as The Cornishman went to press.

Courtesy of The Cornishman.

Sanjay at Genoa - cooking Cornish Slow Fish style.

Weaving his magic,Chef Sanjay Kumar will be at Newlyn Fish Festival later this summer.

  

Salacche Inglese (Cornovaglia) con polenta Sale Speziato

(English Salt fish with spiced polenta)

Every summer without fail a shoal of sardines swam across the channel, towards the warm shores of Cornwall. A dedicated marksman perched atop the hill kept an eye on the approaching train of shimmering fish shouting“Hevva Hevva” upon spotting the prized catch. Alert fishermen cast their nets, catching the prized fish, whichwas then prepared, salted, packed symmetrically in barrels, stenciled and shipped back to the shores of Catholic fish eating countries in the Mediterranean. Genoa in Italy was one such port of call a few centuries back. 

My recipe today is a modern twist on the amazing blend of ancient and modern eating habits, in the perspectiveof Cornish sardines. Nick and Mithe Howell are passionate producers, who care more about keeping thetraditions than earning surplus money by exploiting the sea. Over the years, the market and demand for Cornish fish has dwindled, due to alternate cheaper sources, and modern methods of industrial fishing. Slow fish is a platform to rekindle theinterests in restoring the pride of origin of a delicacy that is so proper to Cornwall, and the people who earn a living catching it, from shore to plate.

Recipe (you might want to adapt the quantities for home consumtion accordingly!)

Estimated Prep Time: 10 minutes

Estimated Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

100 Cornish Sardines / herring
50 g Cumin Seeds ground
1 pkt (10 g) Saffron strands
4 KgPolenta
2 Kg Fish bones for stock
20 Lemons
2 Kg Roquette
2 Trays Cherry tomatoes on vine
1 Kg White Onion
4 Bay leaves
100 ml Olive oil
1 Kg Salted Peanuts
250 g Whole Grain mustard

Directions

1. Prepare a fish stock, using the fish bones and onions and bay leaves.
2. Simmer the stock for 15 minutes and strain through a fine sieve.

3. In a hot deep pan, heat up the oil and cook the cumin seeds.

4. Add a few ladlefuls offish stock to the pan, and soak the saffron strands in it.

5. Pour the Polenta into the pan, and keep stirring.6. Ladle the rest of the fish stock, slowly into the polenta mix, and keep stirring until it is creamy andboiling off the sides.

7. Finish the polenta with salted peanuts and grain mustard seeds.

8. Place the delicate, salted sardines under a grill, to warm through.

9. Serve the salted sardines on a bed of spiced polenta, with a drizzle of roquette leaves, cherry tomatoes and a lemon wedge

Newlyn Harbour Commissioners in shake-up.

Yesterday's meeting (Tuesday) of the NPHC to re-appoint several members who were on one year terms has created something of a stir. It appears that, following the meeting, two members, including the vice chair have resigned (citing other commitments) and three were removed in questionable circumstances (see the letter below).

While still sceptical, many have been giving the new commissioners the benefit of the doubt - despite them turning down what appeared to be a gift horse of a new market for less than the cost of running the existing building -that, after being in post for a year and operating in line within the remit of good governance for Trust ports, the results of their efforts would soon begin to show.

Instead, this latest fiasco - remember this is, or was until very recently England's largest fishing port - will now only serve to rekindle all the old feelings that the port is continuing to serve the interests of a limited number of stakeholders over the rest. Componded by the fact that, the three who were pushed out all represented the local community and had given up huge amounts of personal time and effort in contributing towards the changes planned for the port.

Here is the letter that Dave Mundy handed to the Chairman of the Commissioners this morning:

"I am writing this letter with great sadness and have carefully considered the situation overnight. I was shocked at the meeting yesterday, the way it was called and conducted, I am unclear if what was done, was actually constitutional. I believe the actions taken yesterday by the Commission, have actually brought the Commission into disrepute, as well as being grossly unfair. I do agree with you that certain Commissioners are not acting “independently and in good faith in the best interests of the trust port and all its stakeholders”; however these are not the ones, that have been purged from the Commission. What has been done is to remove the three independent “community” Commissioners in a most unfair way.

When the new Commission was constituted I had high hopes that we could make real progress and have felt that in the last few months progress was slowly being made. However it appears that certain factions were opposed to change and have manoeuvred very cleverly, to ensure that their own interests are preserved and that Newlyn can not move forward.

I cannot work with a Commission that has been so discredited, so very regretfully, I feel that I have no option, but to resign from the Board. I now believe that the Board is completely undermined and has brought itself into disrepute, that it should be dissolved and the DOT be asked to take over the management of the port, until a new board can be appointed.

On a personal level, I believe that I have worked hard for the Commission and fully supported you as chairman and the executive in its function, I had hoped to be able to devote more time to the Commission, with my impending retirement. I will now have more time to devote to my other interests, which I am pleased to say are making good progress".

Dave Munday

You couldn't write this in a novel and expect to get away with such an extravagant extended plot - could you? As they say, fact is always stranger than fiction! Who needs iPlayer to catch up with the soaps?