An 'addock tatty rats dish - ultra simple and quick!

Even after the skin has been removed, a sure sign of quality fish - haddock with a complete set of scales and the black pectoral line still clearly visible........

go to make a really quick and simple dish with the ubiquitous 'tatty rats', or ratatouille sauce - after making the sauce........

 

(removing 50% of the sauce if needs be to make room in the pan) - place the skinned fish fillets - could be hake, 'addock, whiting, ling, cod, pollack, lemon, megrim or Dover sole on top of the sauce mix when it is hot and simply cover with a lid or foil and give it a few minutes, five at most.........

after which the fillets will have a lovely, white, creamy appearance - serve quick!

Black fishy Friday now - discards debacle!

MPs have refused to ban the controversial practice of discarding surplus fish back into the sea. 

This article from today's Guardian captures a flavour of the distaste for a fight it seems......

"Fishermen should be allowed to continue discarding edible fish at sea, despite public pressure to stop the wasteful practice, a group of MPs has urged. The proposal, by a parliamentary select committee, is a blow to environmental campaigners who have long argued against the practice. A high-profile public campaign led by the chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has called an end to the discarding of fish. Fleets sometimes throw fish back, usually dead, because they have exceeded their quota or have inadvertently caught less valuable species. Partly in response to the campaign, the European commission has proposed a phased-in ban on discards, which the UK government has backed in Brussels. But the environment and rural affairs committee called in a report published on Friday for the practice to be allowed to continue until 2020 at least. The MPs said it had not been proved how many fish died after being discarded and called for more research. They cast doubt on whether it was possible to end discards."

Guardian Environment: read the article in full here

In the meantime, follow the story as it envelops the Facebook page of Hugh's Fishfight campaign here.

This is a dilemma for fishermen as almost no fishery is without some sort of by-catch - a total ban on discards is not practicable - but the chances are the baby will be thrown out with the bathwater as all hands fail to find a way through this complicated issue.

You can browse the Written Evidence passed through the House of Commons here.

Tiz a foggy filled fishy Friday

 The mists of time roll in pat the Mission.......

 one lonely ling for the neamer Sapphire........

 along with the much sought after Dovers.........

 it's definitely not JD season with the Imogen II........

 there's a huddle in the fridge selling the inshore boats.......

 this is what the Sapphire filled her fish room with - if you are Bristol way, check out the cuttlefish dish at the new eating house Bravas ......

 on the trail of the elusive mackerel.......

 one crabber waiting for crew to trun up.......

 a few miles from her homw port, the  Agan Proviyas.........

 blocks and cement Scilly bound........

 all in a day's work, Cap'n Corin surveys the gear on the Sapphire.......

netter, Berlewen, berthed in Newlyn rather than her home port of Padstow between tides......

 the fog is just beginning to lift as the sun makes it over the horizon.........

 fuel supplies Jet their way to the quay.......

 as does the Quayside Transport wagon passing the boating pool at Wherry Town........

looks like the housing market is on the move in Cornwall.

Keeping up with the Cefas Endeavour, now off Falmouth.

Weather has forced the Cefas Endeavour to instigate Plan B, an area of hard ground on the 12 mile limit SW of Falmouth - here's the latest post from the boat:

"Sadly we had to run inshore for cover yesterday afternoon as the winds got up from the South West and made it just a little bit to rough to work on the Western Channel rMCZ. However, in true form, we had a plan B. About 12nm off Falmouth is another rMCZ, so we headed inshore to work our way around it. This particular area was expected to be very hard, so we rigged up the drop camera (pictured below) and deployed this on every position before Hamon grabbing. That way we could identify any position that the Hamon grab would not successfully retrieve a sample."

Drop camera photo courtesy of Brian aboard the Endeavour.

Cefas Endeavour towing alongside the trawler Breizh Arvor

Two AIS tracks - one showing the route taken by the Cefas Endeavour after she steamed from the Celtic Deep passing Land's End on her way to the new survey area, the other traces the ground covered by the Breton trawler Breizh Arvor working in the same area - maybe the skippers will compare notes?

Cornish ling, grapefruit and prawn dressing, spiced quinoa and lemon yoghurt

Not the prettiest of fish - but a great cod substitute - and brilliant for fish cakes.

Cornish ling, grapefruit and prawn dressing, spiced quinoa and lemon yoghurt 


A deliciously light and fresh dish bursting with tangy citrus flavours. 


Ingredients 


For the quinoa:


50g/1¾oz quinoa 
3 tbsp olive oil 
10g/½oz salt 
½ tsp dill seeds 
½ tsp fennel seed 
¼ tsp cumin seed 
¼ tsp ground cinnamon 
1 tsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped 
1 tsp dill, finely chopped 
1 tsp chives, finely chopped salt and freshly ground black pepper 
150g/5½oz winter salad leaves 
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 


For the ling 


4 x 125g/4½oz Cornish ling pieces, skinned salt, to taste 
2 tbsp olive oil lemon juice, to taste 
115g/4oz Greek-style yoghurt For the grapefruit dressing 
50ml/2fl oz grapefruit juice 
50ml/2fl oz olive oil pinch salt 
50g/2oz peeled cooked prawns 
1 tbsp flatleaf parsley 
10g/½oz capers 


Preparation method 


For the quinoa, place all but about a teaspoon of the quinoa into a saucepan with 200ml/7fl oz water, one tablespoon of the olive oil and the salt and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes then cover with cling film and allow to steam in a warm place until the quinoa has cooled. Place the cooled quinoa in a large mixing bowl. Heat a frying pan until medium hot, add one tablespoon of the oil, the reserved quinoa, dill seed, fennel seed, cumin seed and ground cinnamon and toast for one minute. Pour the mixture onto the cooked quinoa then stir in the herbs. Mix well and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss the winter leaves with a little of the quinoa, the balsamic vinegar and the last of the olive oil. 


For the ling, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Season the ling well with salt. Heat a non-stick frying pan until hot, add the olive oil. Add the ling and cook on each side until lightly golden-brown. Remove the ling from the pan, and place onto a baking tray. Bake in the oven for 3-4 minutes. Remove the baking tray from the oven and season the ling with a little salt and lemon juice. Place the yoghurt into a bowl and season, to taste, with lemon juice and salt. Mix well. For the grapefruit and prawn dressing, place the grapefruit juice, olive oil, 25ml/1fl oz water and salt into a jug and stir until the salt dissolves. Pour the dressing into a small saucepan and heat through, then add the prawns, parsley and capers. To serve, spoon lemon yoghurt around 4 plates, and place a pile of quinoa in the centre of each plate. Top with a piece of ling, and spoon the grapefruit and prawn dressing over the top. Serve the salad leaves alongside.


As seen on BBC One's Saturday Kitchen last weekend - James Martin at the helm.

Evidence and Issues summary of consultation responses report Inbox x

Evidence and Issues Report for the East Inshore and East Offshore marine plan areas.


The final Evidence and Issues Report 2012 was published on 7 February 2012 following the consultation on the draft verison of the report between 24 November 2011 and 10 January 2012. We would like to thank everyone who provided feedback and comments, which we have taken into consideration and amended the report where appropriate. 


The report looks at the data we are using to inform our marine planning decisions, and also highlights issues and opportunities for a range of marine activities. The report includes: the evidence we are taking account of in marine planning our assessment of the evidence interactions between marine sectors and options for co-location emerging issues we need to take account of in marine planning. The report also includes the Sustainability Appraisal (SA) Scoping Report formal consultation (required under the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive). 


We have combined the SA scoping requirements with the other material in the report to reduce the number of documents at this stage in the marine planning process. 


Overview Report (PDF 40.9 MB) 
Chapter 1: Introduction and background (PDF 559 KB) 
Chapter 2: Evidence gathering (PDF 2.4 MB) 
Chapter 3: Introduction and approach to the sustainability appraisal process (PDF 113 KB) 
Chapter 4: Key activities (PDF 46.7 MB) 
Chapter 5: Interactions – between multiple activities and between activities and environment (PDF 19.5 MB) 
Chapter 6: Social, economic and environmental issues (PDF 14.5 MB) 


Annexes (PDF 12.5 MB)
Glossary (PDF 36 KB) 
Acronym list (PDF 68 KB)


The relevant page on the MMO site is here:


The report is underpinned by a range of documents and other information sources. Please contact us at planning@marinemanagement.org.uk if you would like to talk to us about the following areas of the report: