Busy night in fishy town tonight!

VesselTracker picks up many of the fleet against the quays tonight.

Jellyfish Rule! - has this man found the Truth?

Has this man just witnessed the beginning of the end of vertebrate ecology?

Last year I began to wonder, this year doubt is seeping away, to be replaced with a rising fear. Could it really have happened? Could the fishing industry have achieved the remarkable feat of destroying the last great stock?

Until 2010, mackerel were the one reliable catch in Cardigan Bay in west Wales. Though I took to the water dozens of times, there wasn't a day in 2008 or 2009 when I failed to take 10 or more. Once every three or four trips I would hit a major shoal, and bring in 100 or 200 fish: enough, across the season, to fill the freezer and supply much of our protein for the year. Those were thrilling moments: pulling up strings of fish amid whirling flocks of shearwaters, gannets pluming into the water beside my kayak, dolphins breaching and blowing. It was, or so it seemed, the most sustainable of all the easy means of harvesting animal protein.

Read the rest of George Monbiot's blog article that featured in the Guardian Online today - here - but be sure to read the comments (85 at the last count) at the foot of the article - from the well informed to the well intentioned to the ill-informed to the dismissive and merely trivial - but starting with - "correlation is not causation" - exactly so iamtheurbanspaceman!

 

Fishing for the Truth.

An open letter to Maria Damanki from the newly formed Fishermen's Association Ltd begins thus:

THE FISHERMEN’S ASSOCIATION LIMITED

OPEN LETTER TO MARIA DAMANAKI, LORD DEBEN (formerly JOHN GUMMER) and RICHARD BENYON UK Fisheries Minister

At the GLOBE World Ocean’s Day Forum on 8 June it was reported in Fishing News that EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki stated she “really needs help and support” on CFP reform. While Lord Deben asked “where will the fishermen be in 20 years time if we do not concentrate on the fish?” and stated “ Fish don’t belong to any one country; they don’t acknowledge borders and fishing nations need to be reminded of that.”

Let’s lay to rest once and for all this nonsense of fish not acknowledging boundaries.

Fish are a “common resource” only in the narrow sense that they are no respecters of national boundaries. That, however, is not the issue. Nobody claims to “own” wild species. What individuals, nations and local communities do claim is the exclusive right to exploit them while they are in the areas under their jurisdiction, such right being qualified only for the purpose of conservation in the more general interest. There is, however, no logical progression from this principle to that of allowing free access to all the waters of member states, which in fact is diametrically opposed to practical conservation.

Neither the Commissioner nor her predecessors, nor Mr Gummer in his previous incarnation of UK Secretary of State for Environment and Fisheries, have listened one iota to what the industry has been saying. In the last 30 years we have witnessed its destruction with the UK fleet having been halved, all in the name of conservation whilst at the same time allowing seal predation to reach mind-boggling levels.

to read the rest of the article and visit FAL's new blog - click here-

Last call for the Taste of the West awards 2011!

STOP PRESS: CLOSING DATE FOR PRODUCTS, HOSPITALITY & RETAIL ENTRIES IS 8TH JULY 2011



Taste of the West are delighted to announce that our 18th Taste of the West Awards programme is now underway. Each year these Awards – the biggest regional food awards in the country – grow in both size and reputation. The awards are highly respected across the region and serve to highlight excellence across the South West’s food, drink and hospitality industry, thus attracting much media attention; not only for the entrants but for supporters too.

Last chance to nominate or get yourself nominated!

More pictures of the Petite Marie Claude from Douarnenez.

Tuna boat, Petite Marie Claude up the river at Douarnenez........

gutting the catch at sea.......

using the boat's dinghy to ferry spares aboard......

there was skipper and crew.......

not tuna fishing.........

back on the tuna making up gear......

 

time to eat. A big thank you to Didier Beillevair for sending in the photos.

Falmouth Coastguard coordinates rescue of Dutch yacht crew off Isles of Scilly

Two Dutch crew from a yacht have been rescued in gale force conditions overnight, 75 miles South West of the Isles Of Scilly.

At 8.20pm on Thursday Falmouth Coastguard received an EPIRB (Emergency Positioning Radio Beacon) distress alert located 75 miles South West of the Isles Of Scilly, which they determined was registered to a Swedish 36 foot yacht called Andriette. 

Falmouth Coastguard contacted merchant vessels in the area and a message was relayed from another yacht which had encountered the Andriette on Wednesday and reported that she had suffered some damage but had continued on her passage from the Azores to Malmo in Sweden.

The Rescue Helicopter from RNAS Culdrose located the damaged yacht at 10.40pm which was without steering, lying stern to the wind in heavy seas. With winching over the deck impossible in the conditions, the two men on board had to abandon to their liferaft.  The winchman retrieved one man from the liferaft but the liferaft capsized and on returning for the second man, both winchman and crewman were out of sight in the water beneath the upturned raft.  Thankfully, when the liferaft righted itself the winchman had located the man in the water and both were winched back to the safety of the helicopter.

The two men are Dutch nationals aged 41 and 54. They were cold and wet after their ordeal but uninjured and have been transferred to Falmouth.  Falmouth Coastguard Watch Manager Peter Bullard said, "The conditions for the helicopter rescue crew were extremely challenging with gale force winds, rough seas and darkness.  The three merchant vessels which responded to us helped with communications and were always an option for rescue.  However, transfer either to helicopter or a vessel would always be difficult under these conditions.

Rescue story courtesy of BYM

Baby lobsters take up residence in the Scillies.

The size of a juvenile lobster at the release stage!

On Wednesday 6 July, Padstow’s National Lobster Hatchery will delivered 3000 baby lobsters to the Isles of Scilly to be released into the islands’ clear blue waters.


This was the biggest release that has ever taken place in the Scillies and represents a significant proportion of the hatchery’s early season production.


The release by the charity was being supported by local organisations on the Isles of Scilly and in Cornwall including the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, Hell Bay Hotel and Isles of Scilly Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IOS IFCA).


The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company provided transport on the Scillonian III for all of the baby lobsters, the releasing equipment and two members of staff from the Hatchery, the second consecutive year that they have provided complimentary travel to the islands for a lobster release.


Jeff Marston, Chief Executive of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, said: “Supporting the local economies of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly is extremely important to us, and assisting the National Lobster Hatchery with their release is a great example of how we do this. Last year’s lobster release was a great success and we are delighted to be able to help again.”


Senior Hatchery technician Dr Carly Daniels and technician Charlie Ellis released the juvenile lobsters with the help of local dive operators Tim Allsop and Dave McBride, as well as volunteer divers from the mainland.


The National Lobster Hatchery’s General Manager Dominic Boothroyd explained: “Because the divers know the seabed so intimately they are the best people to tell us where the release spots really should be. The lobsters really need small boulders and stone, overlying silt, mud and mixed sediment in an area that is not going to be repeatedly hit by storms or be run over by trawlers. This enables them to dig a nice burrow that they can live in for the next year or two.”


The Hell Bay Hotel on Bryher assisted the Hatchery release juvenile lobsters into the waters around Bryher and Tresco last year and has once again offered to support the charity’s work. The release represents the continuation of a long-term collaboration between the hotel and the charity.


Philip Callan from the Hell Bay Hotel added: “Hell Bay Hotel is very excited to once again be be taking part in a major juvenile lobster release. Our 3-rosette restaurant is known for serving the best lobster on the islands. This project is an exciting new step towards a more sustainable future and one that the hotel and all our customers can be very proud of.”


This is the first time that the charity has released such large numbers of juveniles in the Isles of Scilly – last year they released a thousand lobsters near to Bryher in one release, but this marks a significant step forward for the Hatchery. Developments undertaken during the winter have enabled the organisation to make a major advancement this year in the way baby lobsters can be raised and the charity is now in a far better position to grow large numbers of juveniles at the facility.


Senior Technician Dr Carly Daniels said: “What we really want to get going next in the Scillies, with the help of our supporters down here, is a trial cage culture site where we can put a few hundred juveniles into sea cages and just leave them to grow for a few months, so that when released at the end of the autumn they are much bigger and stronger.”


Dominic Boothroyd added “We are really grateful to the support of all of the individuals and organisations who will be involved in this release. Not only have the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company and Hell Bay Hotel offered their support with the release again, but they have also provided us with a fantastic raffle prize of a luxury two night break on the Isles of Scilly, which we will be drawing at our autumn fundraising event”