Friday's market.

Frantic and even one or two international phone bidders expected on this huge star ray this morning.......

when it comes to nasal passages skate are a short, or long nose ahead........

good reds signify well looked after fish from the Trevessa IV........

like this landing of mullet and bass from the Plymouth inshore boat, Spurn Light.......

black is back, the cuttles have set in off the Start by the looks of these tubs.......

a winter break for a Cornish Sardine net.........

clean decks aboard the Cornishman.........

unlike the fish market which is running in black, those cuttles would turn the whole town sepia if left unwashed........

looks like a spectacular sunrise in the offing........

and time for a visit to the Newlyn Orion Gallery for their new show.......

up comes the sun from the East.

Hake - keep it simple.

Pan fried hake on ratatouile.

Olly oil - a big dollop or three....
add garlic sliced to taste along with an aubergine diced into 1" cubes to hot olly oil - heat till coloured......
add a good teaspoon or more (to taste and colour) of paprika and a dash of tabasco.....
add a dash of water at any time if the pan dries.......
add two crudely chopped peppers and two chopped toms......
add a dash of water if the pan dries......
the fish will take 10 minutes at the most to fry off, skin side down first till the skin is crispy, turn over for the last few minutes or pop under a grill, or in a hot oven......
garnish the rats with basil.......
simple and quick.

Fishing focus - the beam trawler.

Brixham beam trawler Lady Maureen can be seen making her way to Newlyn after leaving the fishing gorounds south east of Start Point in Devon.  Life aboard a beam trawler is typified by this account of a trip aboard the smallish beamer, Semper Allegro skippered on this occaision by the late Roger Nowell.

Cefas Endeavour Irish Sea Groundfish survey latest.

Towing between the Isle of Man and the mainland of Whitehaven, the Cefas Endeavour is on the fourth leg of her Irish Sea Groundfish survey work. Keep up with the latest from the scientific team working aboard the boat by following their new blog here:

Inky black morning.

Top quality squid much in evidence with the inshore boats at the moment......

as the buyers make their way past a night's work from the Imogen III........

there's more monk tails and cheeks from the Tracy Claire........

with the morning slightly warmer than last night when the temperature dipped to 3º the harbour is free of wind........

the new moon is still visible, despite the imminent arrival of the sun.

Asthore Cornish Sardine fishing at night.

Out for the evening and then heading back to Plymouth after a successful shot on the sardines for the latest member of the Cornish ring net fleet, the Asthore heads back to port.

Hake - a 400% markup seems harsh.

Extracted from the Ajax's Twitter account today.

You can see why the skipper and owner of the Ajax might feel a little aggrieved at the moment- seeing his fish average £1.25 per kilo on the market on Monday, and 100 yards down the road find the same fish will cost him four times as much. 


But that's not the full story it seems:


Good old Newlyn Fish to the rescue from their Twitter page:  "@joolyjooly @AjaxAH32 not here, we are selling hake FILLET delivered anywhere in mainland uk £5.40 per kg - cheaper at the store!"


To put that in context, as a rule, fillets represent approx 50% of the body weight as sold on the market - so at least double the price to make a comparison of the cost to the merchant who fillets.