Passing down a Breton trawler off Land's End

One track on the VesselTracker AIS shows the netter Ajax making her way across the traffic separation scheme as the Breton trawler Vierge De L'ocean tows down from more northerly ground.  Both boats will want to stay clear of one another's gear while they are fishing.

Newlyn Harbour from The Society for Curious Thought - a short video that includes footage of the Ajax landing hake at Newlyn. on Vimeo.

The Ajax made a mid-tide landing at Newlyn earlier today with 200 boxes put ashore for the Monday's market and 120 boxes consigned to Brixham by lorry.

Cefas Project 50%

At a time when discards are making the news and a way forward seems difficult we find some good news from the Cefas labs and the project they devised with the help of the Brixham beam trawler fleet.  Known as Project 50%, the results of the collaboration between gear technologists, fishermen and Cefas has produced impressive and credible improvements to discard rates and earnings. 


It's all here in a well illustrated report ready to download and read at leisure.

Sun morning.

 Salty songsmiths Rig-a-Jig serenade the Union Hotel next week....... 

 up for sale, Penzance Arts club, another chapter in the making.......

 crossed wires in the dock.........

 work in progress aboard TO60.........

 historic stretch of beach at Battery Rocks.......

 who said, on a clear day you can see for miles   and miles     and miles............

 latest expo at the PZ Gallery.........

classic art deco, the Yacht Inn, Penzance.

Lub Senior - top fly shooter from Urk - a view from the deck

One of the most advance fishing vessels working the English Channel and North Sea. The Urk based Lub Senior or UK153 has been designed to use twin-rigging, passive gillnetting, pulse trawl and fly-shooting, all designed to catch different demersal but also pelagic fish species in various seasons. Fly-shooting is a more fuel-efficient method than bottom trawling and usually yields a better quality of end product due to the short time that the fish are in the net before being taken aboard the boat

UK-153 "the movie" from Riekelt on Vimeo.

The boat os owned by the Orion Fishing Group, renowned for landing fish of the highest quality. This video made by the boat gives a good insight into how the seine net method of fishing works - the footrope just flies over the stern ramp when she is shooting the net!  Down in the fishroom gutted and washed fish are weighed electronically (recorded on computer) iced and with the boxes stacked 12 high there is still with room to spare to the deckhead!

Ready for the pot ce soir :-) a la Monty Hall - episode 3

Listen to Monty Hall on Wednesday evening's Fishermen's Apprentice when he travels across to Brittany with his hard won catch of spider crab - revered in Breton restaurants and treated like crustacean royalty, the spider crab epitomises the huge gulf - 100 miles of open water or a "vast chasm" as Monty puts it - between French eating culture and the status that they afford fish like spider crab as compared to home territory where not so many years ago spider crab were dumped back at sea as there was no market for them - even now they make little money when sold here - at the end of the sound bite listen out for the surprise result of the blind tasting when the edible crab goes shell-to-shell with arch enemy spidercrab.

Excerpts from episode 3 of Monty Hall's Fisherman's Apprentice courtesy of BBC2.

In episode 3 of Monty Hall's Fisherman's Apprentice, the edible crab goes head-to-head with the under valued spider crab.... and it just so happens that the Through the Gaps household sat down to enjoy said spider crab for supper........

slip a couple in a good sized pot.......

and after 20 minutes they are ready - this applies to edible or brown crab, lobster and crayfish.......

 dried off the spiders look good enough to eat.......

ready to hand, a selection of shellfish picking tools - keep your eyes open in Lidls - a set of six on the left for a couple of squids.

A long day and a late night landing for the inshore boats

 Quality catcher, Harvest Reaper comes alongside ready to land.......

 while aboard the Lamorna boxed fsh are already hitting the quayside......

 and getting the ice treatment.......

 one for Mr Eddy, you might just recognise the old boy tugging on the trolley.......

 looks like fish from the beam trawler Trevessa is ready for sorting.

Film Festival - Pecheurs du Monde, Lorient

If you happen to be in Lorient, France between the 22nd and 25th of March then make sure you visit Pecheurs du Monde, the only film festival in Europe devoted to fishing around the world!


The Festival is a special cultural event that offers new or very recent films dedicated to the sea people of the world. These films introduce the public to magnificient areas full of dreams and freedom where tragedy and hardship exist but also happiness and wonder. 


The Festival is a place of debates and exchanges. It not only invites us to discover images of the sea but also to debate on the main economic, social and environmental questions related to the fishing industry. Since its creation, more than one hundred movies dedicated to fishing and fishermen from all over the world were showcased. The Festival has also awarded and honored many French and foreign directors . The Festival is also a meeting place for all those who love the sea. Each edition gives the fishermen the possibily to speak about themselves. It enables the workers from the sea to introduce their world to the audience, to express their love for their jobs and to share their hopes and fears. After each film, debates are encouraged with the directors, fishing professionals, scientists and of course the public. 


The Festival wants to introduce the young generations to the fishing world. The active participation of young people is encouraged. The students from the Lorient highschools are welcomed at the Festival where their enthousiasm is always very appreciated. The future of Fisheries lies also in the ability to pass on existing know-how and capacities.