On the fish.

Someone must be getting dizzy on watch aboard the Lisa Jacqueline! - must be good fishing.

Sailing day for the last trip of 2011.

 One small step.......

 big boats need big wire......

 pulled on the quay.......

 the quickness of the hand deceives the eye.......

 and back through the block.......

 before the next shower arrives......

 we was wanting words with you!.........

 off comes the trawl in preparation for triple rigging targeting monk and brill.......

 under the watchful eye of skipper Curtis junior........ 

 before a team talk on the quay......

 until Royden arrives with the forklift.......

 to help pack away the trawl on a pallet........

 all set to sail........

 all hands interested in the future of independent ice in Newlyn need to attend this special general meeting fo Cornish Ice Company shareholders on the 21st of December in the Mission at Newlyn.......

 there's an excellent exhibition of art work by Nick Praed who lives and has his studio aboard the ex-Newlyn netter Ar Bagergan.........

 a quick look down the quay.......

 as the 'little ol' tiger heads for the ice works.........

before heading off to sea for the last trip of 2011.

Christmas cheer from the Fisheries Council in Brussels

Ending in the early hours of this morning, these were the tweets from MP Richard Benyon as the Fisheries Council meeting took place:

"Richard Benyon Off to Brussels to negotiate for fishing opportunities for our fleet next year......

MP Richard Benyon Absurdity of CFP made clear as I discuss net sizes in Irish Sea with Commissioner. We need reform that let's UK deal with such matters! 22 hours ago........

MP Richard Benyon Just had good meeting with French Minister. Good agreement with Germans too. Can argue sustainability through every proposal we make 20 hours ago........ 

MP Richard Benyon Still in Brussels negotiating fishing quotas. UK delegation have sweepstake of time agreement will be reached. My money on 3.45am 9 hours ago .........

Richard Benyon @ @seafishinfuture Do support CRP! It just the days @ sea part that is lunacy and doesn't work in mixed fishery like ours. RB 9 hours ago..........

Richard Benyon @ @StuartHousden getting there. Result soon 7 hours ago.......

Got a good deal for UK Fisheries @ 3.45am (as predicted here!). UK's position backed by science throughout. 1 hour sleep. Now going home 14 minutes ago RichardBenyonMP".........

Some good cheer emanating from this year's Fisheries Council meting for the UK fishing fleet. news coming out of the council meeting indicate that for Scottish fishermen the 4 day at sea a fortnight ruling may have been overturned in favour of a 4 day week. Quotas for North Sea haddock and herring appear to have been doubled. News of quota targets that apply to the waters off the south west has yet to reach the shore of Cornwall.

Mme Damanki speaking after the fisheries council meeting.



See the full story from the BBC here.

UK FISHING INDUSTRY 


Newlyn in Cornwall has the largest number of fishing vessels in the UK (619), followed by Milford Haven (483) and Poole (476). But Fraserburgh in Scotland has the largest capacity by gross tonnage (36,264), followed by Shetland (23,632). 63% of UK fishing boats were built prior to 1991. While the number of boats being built has fallen, their average capacity and power have increased


Source: UK Sea Fisheries Statistics 2010

Wild weather for wild fish!

Scillies lifeline - the Gry Maritha is on her way!

The Scillies supply ship, Gry Maritha stranded since last Friday in Penzance dock, is finally on her way to the beleaguered islands thirty five miles off the storm battered Cornish coast.......

with all those important supplies......

like beer, although the chances are with many people having nothing better to do on the islands than retire to the nearest bar and discuss the terrible weather outside it is likely that supplies of Christmas cheer are running low - at just over 6 knots the Gry is making her way slowly towards the islands, no doubt much to the relief of locals, shops and pubs!

Tracked all the way to the Scillies - next question is, when will she return?

Tracked all the way to the Scillies - next question is, when will she return?

When the wind is in the west, the fishing is best.....

Shipping forecast for the south west:

Gale warnings - Issued: 0338 UTC Thu 15 Dec

Severe gale force 9 backing southwesterly and increasing storm force 10 soon, then increasing violent storm force 11 later

Shipping Forecast - Issued: 1130 UTC Thu 15 Dec

Wind Southwest 7 to severe gale 9, increasing severe gale 9 to violent storm 11, veering northwest 7 to severe gale 9 later.

Sea State High or very high.

Weather Rain or showers.

Visibility Good, occasionally poor.

But not when the wind has been consistently around gale force 8 for several days with gusts over 60mph........

and the wave height at the Sevenstones Lightship is beginning to approach 30 feet........

so as Cornwall is lashed by gales, dozens of property damaged by lighening strikes and any number of trees blown down - spare a thought for this group of French trawlers working south of the Dodman Point hoping to gain a little from being in the lee of the Lizard land mass!

The AIS tracks from VesselTracker show how some of the boats have steamewd stright from their home ports across the channel (that's at a time when the huge Brittany ferry has been cancelled) to fish their last trip for the christmas market when prices are sure to be sky high.

Great results for Fish is the Dish! campaign.

Seafish, the UK's authority on seafood, reports a superb response to its 'Fish is the Dish' campaign. Launched in October, it has so far reached 120,000 consumers (twice as many as anticipated by this early stage) and this week was ranked the UK's 15th 'Most Talked About' blogging campaign by the Tots 100 Brand Index - just two places behind Tesco. 


Fish is the Dish is a hardworking digital campaign using website, Facebook and Twitter to engage mums in the idea that 'Fish is Easy'. Whilst not traditional heavy users of seafood, mums are a prime target for messages about increased fish consumption because having children in the household means they are receptive to ideas and information about food and health. They are also known to be heavy internet users. Susanna Scott (A Modern Mother) is the founder of BritMums (the UK's largest parent blogging community) and was one of the bloggers initially targeted by Seafish. She says, "Like a lot of busy mums I was quite sceptical at first about preparing seafood and how much of it I could get my children to eat. Having tried a number of the Seafish recipes I am proud to say my entire family are now converts to the fish eating habit. I have been only too pleased to spread the word about Fish is the Dish to my own friends and contacts." 


Seafood industry stakeholders are also encouraged to engage with Fish is the Dish as a new means to reach potential consumers. So far, Lyons Seafood, Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group, Young's Seafood and Delish Fish have all got involved, providing packs of seafood for bloggers, encouraging the generation of more content and publicity. Jo Dunlop of Seafish says, "Fish is the Dish has got off to a fantastic start. We have had strong participation, brilliant feedback from our mum community and the average dwell time on the website is over ten minutes. "The campaign has also demonstrated superb value for money - we were particularly delighted to rank at 15 in the Tots 100 Index given the minimal size of our budget compared to that of other top ranked brands such as Tesco, Disney and X-Factor. This shows just how much it is possible to achieve with online techniques provided that the right messages are targeted at the right people." 


Plans for 2012 include a 'Fish is the Dish' roadshow to kick start local conversations about the project. This will link up with local mums, kids, bloggers, media, chefs, fishermen, retailers and other industry stakeholders. 


How industry can get involved in Fish is the Dish:


 · By supplying a logo and links for the supplier pages of the new website to Jo Dunlop via email j_dunlop@seafish.co.uk or telephone 0131 524 8684. · Providing recipes and useful hints/tips – you can upload your own company recipes to the website. http://www.fishisthedish.co.uk


 · Follow the new campaign on Twitter @fishisthedish


 · ‘Like’ the campaign on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/fishisthedish and feel free to put up your own comments, recipes and hints and tips here too.