The forecast, rain, wind, sun, wind, rain, sun, wind, rain.........not good.

 Heavy skies herald a weekend of unsettled weather and worse to follow.......

 though for a brief moment the morning sky clears and the moon can still be seen 180˚ from the sun.......

 works still seems to be underway on the inshore trawler Cathryn........

 there's a new face on the harbour team giving the fish market a washdown........

Ben Gunn's Blue Rocks enjoys a blast from the sun low in the sky.........

 and the same light gives the harbour water a certain intenseness........

 out of the blue, with the sun still shining down comes the rain......

 and all hands leave the quay.......

including Maria and Eve from Exeter Camera Club guided to a dry spot by the ever-courteous Lionel in the middle of his twice daily log of the vessels moored in the harbour, a practice that has been carried out for well over one hundred years........

 after taking ice, the Govenek of Ladram, Newlyn's and one of the UK's biggest gill netters, heads for a temporary berth to take on grub for the next trip....... 

 and moors on the end of the new quay........

 now the rain has stopped Bracken s able to get back to a big mending job, ably assisted by the old man, yet again brought out of retirement when needed........

 changeable weather is the order of the day.......

 though for one of the harbour's shrimp fishermen the pickings are average........

 another of the netter fleet prepare for sailing as the boxes go back aboard the Silver Dawn........

 a more contrite looking Scott these days waits impatiently in readiness to sail for the first time in nearly five months now that his father's boat......... 

  the Filadelfia is ready for sea again......

 good to see the slipper-skipper ready for the off........

 another boat nearing the end of her refit, the William Samson Stevenson still needs work before her derricks are fitted.......

 looking none the worse after her little mishap earlier in the week, the Lisa Jacqueline (ex-Hubenada) heads for another berth.......

 those gulls leave their mark in more than one way it seems.......... 

there's always workshop work.......

unlike those in the foreground, the netting fleet will have to put up with wind, rain and seas that make life very uncomfortable as they fish over the neap tide, mos of them working at least 100 miles west of the Scillies.

Mount's Bay - Benjamin Warner exhibits at the Lighthouse Gallery.

mount's bay - benjamin warner at the Lighthouse Gallery, Penzance
17th September - 1st October.

 Light captured on canvas - JMW Turner set the 19th Century art world ablaze with his daring applications of paint on canvas to render coastal scenes with that special light which fills the dawn sky - ......... 

 today, Falmouth based Benjamin Warner turns his attentions to Mount's Bay and, in particular, Newlyn in an exhibition that could have been entitled, Through the Gaps........

 with richly warm, heavily worked canvasses which successfully capture that same intensity of light which has drawn so many artists to Newlyn in the footsteps of Stanhope Forbes........

 some obviously inspired by the view across to the Mount in the minutes before the sun breaks from the horizon........

 to the warm glow of a breaking dawn where the sun picks out an individual boat (in this case David Steven's Crystal Sea II) ..........

 variations in the weather bring variations of light as this visiting yacht heads for the gaps on a more sombre morning.......

 or the Sarah Beth leaves on what promises to be a cooler day......... 

 while in one of the larger works, the crabber Girl Pamela becomes the centre of attention captured in the gaps around four thirty in the morning at the height of the summer, you can feel the heat of the impending day.......

 the layered effect is achieved by repeatedly working the canvas with heavily laden brush strokes that are then scraped back and worked again.........

 to give the deep, rich underlying tones depth........

 that intensify the lightest tones to create the illusion of those early morning scenes........

 elsewhere, turpentine has been mixed to dilute the paint and create those spurious cloud formations that gather over the Bay.........

upstairs at the gallery is a canvas capturing the view over St Ives and the bay beyond.


The show at the Lighthouse Gallery, Penzance runs until the 1st of October, many of the works on display have already been marked with a red dot - a sure sign of the popularity and recognition that Benjamin Warner's works deserve. 

Newlyn Festival of the Arts - Open Studios this weekend.

Open Studios

Time of opening: 11:00 to 16:00
Friday 16th,
Saturday 17th,
Sunday 18th

Trewarveneth Street Studios
Studio no.1 - Rose Hilton | Studio no.2 - Nicola Bealing | Studio no.3 - Gareth Mc Cory | Studio no.4 - John Mitchell | Studio no.5 - Phil Medley | Studio no.6 - Jason Walker

Orchard Cottage Garden Studios, Bellevue Anne Metcalfe, Roy MacInnes, Mark Nicholls, Maureen Semmons, Nigel Haward

10 Barlandhu, The Coombe Jim Whitlock
36a The Strand Susannah Clemence Fradgan House, The Fragdan Diana Dixon,
49 New Road Joy Batten
Chymorvah, Chywoone Hill (no.42) Ken Gill
Trevatha, Faugan Lane (off Gurnick Road) Audrey & Bernard Evans
Pentire (Boase Street) Sarah Williams
Orchard Cottage Gardens (Bellevue) Penwith College Students
1 Trevince Villas, Gwavas Estate Alan MacKay
Unit 4 The Strand (off Gurnick Road) Lincoln Kirby-Bell
The Copper Works Unit 8, Wesley Place Michael Johnson

Enquiries
Art Events: - Annie Metcalfe - phone: 01736 351937
Film: Margaret Mitchell - phone: 01736 330487
Music: Maura Thompson - phone: 01736 363074

Some like it hot -- European fish stocks changing with warming seas

Red mullet from an inshore boat, caught off the Lizard.

The first "big picture" study of the effects of rapidly rising temperatures in the northeast Atlantic Ocean shows that a major shift in fish stocks is already well underway. But it isn't all bad news. The research, published today (15th Sept.) in Current Biology, shows that some fishes' losses are other fishes' gain. The study led by Dr Steve Simpson of the University of Bristol in collaboration with researchers from eight other institutions, is the first to combine a suite of European datasets, which included more than 100 million fish, to explore how warming is affecting the commercially important European fishery. The researchers analysed 28 years of fisheries agency data from 11 independent surveys covering more than a million square kilometres of the European continental shelf.


The northeast Atlantic has been described as the "cauldron of climate change", with warming occurring at a rate four times the global average over the past 30 years. Dr Simpson, a researcher in the University's School of Biological Sciences, explained: "While a 1.3° Celsius change in mean annual temperature in the North Sea over the past three decades may sound trivial, temperature has a strong influence on egg maturation rates, growth and survival of fish larvae, and impacts on the planktonic communities that underpin the food webs that sustain commercial fisheries.


"We see many more southerly warm-water species faring well on the European shelf than northerly cold-adapted species. This means more small-bodied, faster growing species with shorter generation times, and potentially more diversity."


Indeed, the data show that fish in European waters have undergone profound community-level changes that are related to dramatic warming trends for the region. The vast majority – a whopping 72 percent – of common fish species have already shown a change in abundance that relates to the rising sea temperatures.

Red gurnards were sold by trawlermen as crab bait not so long ago, these days there is a market for them as eating habits change in the UK.

Of those, three out of every four fish species have grown in numbers with warming. Catches of cold-loving species, including haddock and cod, have dropped by half in the past three decades, whereas landings of warm-loving species, including hake and dab, have more than doubled. The results show that studies focused only on changes to where particular fish species are found – species ranges – will miss the far more ecologically and economically relevant effects of warming. They also suggest there will be an unavoidable change in what's for dinner.


Simpson added: "We may see a further decline in cold-adapted species, many of which were the staple for our grandparents. The flip side is a likely increase in species that for the UK may seem relatively exotic now, such as red mullet and John Dory. Over time, with effective management and an appropriate response in consumer demand, European seas have the potential to yield productive and sustainable fisheries into the future."


This will be good news for fishmongers like these guys in London who just can't get enough Cornish red mullet!

Longlining aboard the Kimbill (Bonny Mary) in 1979.

4.30 am after steaming one hundred miles west of Newlyn and flat calm about to shoot 24 baskets of long lines in the summer of 1979........

skipper Bill Tonkin (left) hurls a set of readings (a fish tally with the Decca numbers of the area the lines are set wrapped round a potato and held with a rubber band) watched by Porthlevener Billy Pyle.........

hopefully the huge French trawler, Mojenn CC291718 will acknowledge the position of the lines and steer her trawl clear - a big trawler could wipe out a longliner's entire set of gear in a matter of hours if you were really unlucky........

back to work and in such calm conditions skipper Bill just couldn't help but come out on deck and help out - on the hauler is George Richards who's uncle was a Titanic survivor.......

and get the gaff out to catch a 'floater'.........

bending down gutting is Pothlevener, 'Kipper', check out the size of the fish, especially the big ling 'a git louster' - selective fishing at its best.........

 the following are all saved from different trips aboard the longliner KimBill around 1979/80 - for those who don't know, the co-ordinates eg 32.0E (green lanes) and 62.08D (purple lanes) relate to the Decca navigation system in use at the time that pre-dates today's GPS........

 books of tallies were often used to make notes in the wheelhouse.......

 this tally records the fishing made almost 32 years ago this week - the 6-7 refers to the wind strength........

 this time it's January and the fishing is in handy off Mullion and Porthleven, probably for dogs, the readings joined with crosses indicate either end of the line shot - the KimBill used to carry 24 baskets and would work 2 sets of lines of 12 baskets or a 10 and 14, never a 13 and 11 as skipper Bill was superstitious........

 in the days when you could land red bream........

congering on Eric's ground - the best shot was 660 stone (4,000Kg) in one night!

Good news for Penzance Dry Dock.

Local vessel William Sampson Departs Dry Dock

Local fishing vessel William Sampson, owned by Newlyn fishing company W S Stevenson & Sons, has departed the Penzance Dry Dock following a four-week schedule of works and refit.

 The vessel left the dock on Wednesday (14th September) at approx 1800 hrs, with all the works completed on time and to plan, despite a number of changes to the work’s statement during the four weeks of refit (and adverse weather conditions delaying the painting).

Andy Manza, General Manager from W S Stevenson & Sons says “Penzance Dry Dock is a local facility that provides an easily accessible dry working environment for the refit of vessels. Earlier in the year we had a very rapid response to the docking of two of our vessels PZ 137 Twilight III and PZ 199 Algrie for refit and remedial works requested by ourselves, W S Stevenson & Sons. The work was carried out on time and to a very tight schedule of works drawn up at very short notice, following the successful refit of the two vessels.”

Jimmy Barnes “Skipper” added: “It was a pleasure to be back on board the vessel on its return journey to Newlyn”.

The Dry Dock offers a 365 day a year service with a dedicated docking berth for vessels, a drying-out berth and a range of workshops, including areas for fabrication, fitting, electrical work and carpentry. 

The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, which took the lease on the Dry Dock on 1 September 2009 which has been based in Penzance for more than 90 years.

With experience in shipping and the marine industry through the company’s owned and operated ships, Scillonian III and the freight ship the Gry Maritha, the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company is well placed to maintain the high levels of service delivered as well as providing opportunities for future growth and expansion.

Jeff Marston, Chief Executive of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company added: “The Dry Dock has provided services to ships for many years and has a great reputation for efficiency, quality and competency, we hope to build on this and maximise our opportunities for servicing existing clients as well as attracting new business. 

Skinning skate made easy - nice one Duncan!

Skinning skate and ray is one of those jobs that many fishermen never attempt, now there's no excuse to not to have a go - watch fishmonger Duncan Lewis from Passionate about Fish make it look easy - should inspire anyone to take up the J-cloth and skin!