Good mixed fish landings this morning at Newlyn.

Pre-dawn lights begin to fill the sky around Newlyn......

the chances are this has more to do with the film being shot out at Lamorna Cove......

did you hear the one about a Cornishman and a Scotsman.........

the top Cambletown registered seiner, Gleaner CN777 is in town.......

four of the local sardine fleet at rest........

selling is brisk on a crowded market with a big mix of trawl, beam trawl, net and line caught fish, something for everyone this morning.......

from bright Dover soles........

to the greenest of green cod.......

and silveriest of silver hake.......

just finishing the fridge sale.......

with plenty of ice prepared for the week's landing ahead.

Cefas Endeavour's first research trip for the year.

"So here we are again, a mix of Cefas and JNCC staff ready for another busy couple of weeks onboard Cefas Endeavour. On this survey we will be visiting a few of the recommended Marine Conservation Zones (rMCZs) to collect data to verify the presence and extent of features of interest. 


 If you want to learn more about the process that led to the recommendation of these sites, visit the JNCC website for more information. On the first two weeks of this survey we will be visiting rMCZ sites in the Irish Sea. To avoid a very long steam from Lowestoft, all staff travelled to Swansea to join the vessel. This means that within a couple of hours we will be at our first survey site where the work can begin. 


Recently a new multibeam echosounder and a few other pieces of equipment were fitted to the vessel, so the first job will be a thorough test and calibration to make sure everything is working satisfactory. Once completed, we will start collecting seabed samples to tell us more about the physical and biological character of the sites. Whilst we steam to our first site everyone is busy getting all our equipment ready to go, from computers to sample pots to sieving tables to connecting cables. So I'll leave it at this and go down to help the team. 

More tomorrow!

While the rest of the UK freezes, no snow in balmy Penzance

Not sure when collection day is......

it's hard work aboard a crabber........

waiting for the engineers to turn up, the powerful visiting Dutch beamer Hessel Senior........

has bent the derrick.......

and the beam on the trawl.......

damage viewed from the bow.......

the Penlee cycle boys done well........

waiting for the beach cleaning brigade.........

Penlee Park houses a fantastic collection of art.......

and has just changed shows including a photographic exhibition.......

'Through the Lens - Magic Lantern Slides' for which there is an illustrated lecture on Monday the 20th of February, one for the diary.

Toughest Place to be a Fisherman - Sierra Leone.

Jump have created the titles for the new series of 'Toughest Place to be a....' on BBC2. The series consists of 3 programs - each with a different theme. This title is from 'Toughest Place to be a Fisherman'.

For centuries the fertile fishing grounds off Sierra Leone have provided a living for coastal villagers, but unwelcome intruders are now threatening their way of life. Has it become the toughest place to be a fisherman? 


Each morning, Ishmael Kain and his cousin Kaba Kain push their canoe from the sandy beach of their tiny fishing village out towards the open sea. Together they furiously paddle the canoe, called a kru, out through the fast-moving breakers - often rising up to four metres high - which form a daunting obstacle on the path to the best fishing grounds. 


These coral blue waters are home to large catfish, barracuda and sea bream. In the past they yielded enough fish to feed the village of around 100 people and a small surplus to sell. But not any more. Now the villagers' way of life hangs in the balance. 


It is a chance for Ishmael and Kaba to prove what has been happening to Cornish fishing boat skipper Andy Giles who has travelled to Sierra Leone with a BBC film crew. Of course, these guys are not alone in haveing their livelihoods stolen by much bigger vessels working far from home in their waters - see this  post on Through the Gaps from last year.


First in the new series, last night's opener featured London dustman Wilbur Ramirez as he worked alongside the local bin men in down-town Jakarta - a humbling experience for the Londoner used to a much higher level of comfort and protection from some of the nastier side of human waste.


Toughest Place to be a Fisherman is on BBC Two at 21:00 GMT on Sunday 5 February or watch online via iPlayer (UK only).

Fine frosty fishy Friday.

Skipper's car at the Mish has a fresh frosted coat this morning.......

after a night at sea there's a pelagic landing......

gloves and coats order of the day.......

bound for the Scillies with a cargo of excavation equipment......

the ex-landing craft heads for the gaps.....

waiting for ice.......

one of two beamers from W&S landing this morning......

more speed = more heat........

looks like its going to be a fine day.......

as the sun lights the Lizard across the Bay.......

with some very subtle early morning pinks.

Twinned with Concarneau - Breton and Cornish Sardine fishing.

All in a night's work, the AIS tracks the sardine boat Asthore as she searches for fish between Newlyn, St Michael's Mount and Mousehole........

over 100 miles south, another Celtic sardine boat, the War Raog IV is tracked leaving her home port of Concarneau and then searching the bay for Breton sardines!

Hunting for sardines

Tweeted by @JessicaS_PZ last night - There are 5 trawlers fishing close by in Mounts Bay at the moment - never seen that before. Big shoal of fish? #penzance #newlyn

The Cornish Sardine boats were out in force in Mount's Bay last night. Only the Asthore is fitted with AIS which gives us a chance to follow the boat as skipper Peter Bullock traverses close inshore in the hunt for a suitable mark of fish.  Fishermen use the term 'mark' that once described the patterns left on the old paper type echo sounders that were used to find fish before electronic versions were introduced.