Wave Hub off Hayle attracts new customer.

Ocean Energy Limited, Ireland’s leading wave energy company, is working with Wave Hub, the world’s largest grid connected offshore marine energy test site, to deploy its technology at the site later this year. Cork-based Ocean Energy, in collaboration with its partner Dresser-Rand, one of the largest global suppliers of custom-engineered rotating equipment solutions, expects to deploy a full-scale device at Wave Hub by the end of this year having tested a quarter scale prototype of its OE Buoy in Galway Bay for three years.

Simple fish fry.

Take any firm white fish like cod, pollock, ling, haddock, whiting and fillet, skin and slice the fish into goujons........

coat with Panko (or homemade) breadcrumbs (not that ghastly orange stuff)........

shallow fry for a minute or so.......

great accompaniment to some pea and ham soup and bread of choice - with a little mayo on the side.

Plenty of herring? try an escabeche.

Plenty of herring coming ashore these days.........

though spent they are still tasty enough when filleted.........

in numbers........

coat with seasoned coarse polenta.......

and shallow fry in olly oil.......

poured over the fillets is the escabeche, gently cook red onion, currants and garlic for a few minutes then add diced carrot, marjoram and a bay leaf, small piece of cinnamon, allspice berries and a chopped green chili and a good pinch of brown sugar - once the currants have swollen and the carrot softened add chicken (or fish) stock and a dash of cider vinegar and bring to the boil..........

and poor over the cooked fillets leaving for half an hour to infuse.

For one Cornishman, the toughest place to be a fisherman? - Sierra Leone

Last year a delegation from Senegal visited Newlyn in an attempt to help publicise the number of foreign vessels plundering local waters - this time local fisherman Andy Giles gets to visit Sierra Leone and see at first hand the damage done by such vessels. 

Cornish fisherman Andy Giles gives up his state of the art trawler to travel to the coast of Sierra Leone, where the fishing is done from a dugout canoe. Living in a small community of mud huts, Andy discovers a very different way of life where a bad day's fishing means a hungry family. Even this precarious lifestyle is now under threat from foreign trawlers that fish illegally in the villagers' waters, taking their fish, destroying their nets and sometimes even sinking their canoes, with tragic consequences. 

Through the international language of the fisherman, Andy develops a lasting friendship with his hosts, in a film which highlights the plight of subsistence fishermen around the world.

If you missed the programme first time round catch it again on BBC's iPlayer here.

Prince Charles optimistic despite the picture from the WWF.

A new WWF study shows for the first time the global expansion of fishing activity, from 1950 to the present, through an animated map. It clearly shows that European Union fishing fleets have expanded beyond European waters exploiting new fishing ground since 1980 and increasing the pressure on fish stocks.

The study for WWF has for the first time transposed data about the global expansion of fishing activity, from 1950 to the present, to an animated map. It shows that European vessels are now traveling to the furthest corners of the world to exploit fish stocks. Declining domestic catches and efforts to reduce the number of vessels fishing in European waters have resulted in much of the European tuna and other pelagic fleets concentrating their fishing efforts overseas.

According to the EU, in 2008 the EU external fleet comprised of 718 vessels, which represents 25% of the EU fleet in terms of gross tonnage.

The 718 vessels broken down by Member State:

• Spain: 424 (59%)
• France: 100 (14%)
• Portugal: 73 (10%)
• Italy: 52 (7%)
• Greece: 18 (3%)
• Lithuania: 12 (2%)
• Estonia: 10 (1%)
• UK: 9 (1%)
• Others (Latvia, Germany, Poland, Malta, Denmark, Cyprus): 20 (3%)

Source:http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/documentation/studies/study_external_fleet/external_fleet_2008_en.pdf

UK vessels operating in non-EU waters:
According to DEFRA, in 2011 the UK had vessels fishing or licenced to fish in third country/external waters as follows:

• Indian Ocean (under Indian Ocean Tuna Commission): 4 vessels fishing under agreements with Mozambique and Madagascar.
• Mauritania: 1 vessel under a Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA)
• Falkland Islands: 1 vessel under private agreement
• Morocco: 2 vessels (although only

In a report publicised by the prince speaking at Fishmonger's Hall last week there are reasons for optimism about the future of the world's fish stocks despite their currently dire state at the launch of a report from his green think-tank. 

The report, Fisheries in Transition details 50 case studies of successful management in various parts of the world. The prince said the issue was dogged by a "debilitating fatalism". His International Sustainability Unit (ISU) is aiming to build constructive dialogue between industry and ecology. The report is the first offering on fisheries from the ISU, which aims to continue the kind of work done by the Prince's Rainforest Project on a larger range of issues. Speaking at Fishmongers' Hall in the City of London, the prince said it was "critically urgent" that countries find better ways of dealing with over-fishing and other marine issues. 

 Through research and interviews with people in the trade, it documents 50 examples from the shores of every continent illustrating how once unsustainable fisheries can be turned around. The Peruvian anchovy fishery - the world's largest - set quotas for the first time only three years ago. Catches have fallen, but profits and wages have risen. Fishermen choosing to leave the industry have been given free training for new trades.

The report provides a wealth of detail and helpful graphics to back up the more positive aspects a global dilemma.

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!