Cuttlefish in Tomato in Wine sauce - nice one Sophie!

 Cuttlefish are one of those fishes from the sea almost guaranteed to provoke a 'yeuk!' reaction from many if not presented in a prepared sanitised form, which is a real shame because just like squid, they are delicious when cooked well........

 after pulling out the head and insides - using two fingers pushed down the 'backbone' - the next job is to remove the membrane from the outside of the body - takes a little practice to 'pick up' the membrane from an edge.......

 be sure to look for the ink sac - easily identifiable by the shiny silvery lining as seen above....... 

 pop the sac into a small pot of water - if the sac is really big reduce the amount used by half (can be frozen and used next time to prepare pasta nera (black pasta) - the strength of flavour from one of these sacs will easily do a whole dish for 4........

 the ink itself is gritty to touch when being squeezed from the sac (if you must, wear your marigolds - just don't snap the wrist)........

 once mixed you now have a pot of sepia ink - and yes, if you are inclined, you can use it as ink to write or draw being as that is exactly what it has been used for for hundreds of years.......

 take of the tentacles from just above the eyes - squeeze out the beak........

 after the initial cooking stage which involves sweating down onion and garlic (try shallots and/or red onion as well) a tin of toms and a good glass of red wine and a squeeze of tom puree or dried tom puree or chopped dried toms the dish is then covered and stewed gently for a good hour........

 this recipe comes from Sophie Grigson, who at one time was a regular visitor to Newlyn.......

 serve on a bed of pasta (nera if wanted) along with peas or broad beans and some hot ciabatand most ta rolls...... 

and if you can get hold of a copy, highly recommended is her book too, written with better half William Black - one of the best fish cook books going - and a bargain from the charity shop at £1.49!

Top Newlyn fish are special!

Post pier party painting pics

Just one of many shots taken during the morning session of this year's Painting Party on the Old Quay in Newlyn - in this photo, local artist Bernard Evans is just putting the finishing lines in his study of the luggers in the harbour...

here's the same work a few hours later nearing completion.

IIlegal fishing - is Sierra Leone winning the war?

 Last reported positions of the FV Five Star and

the FV Marcia 777 when she was docked in Dakar, Sierra Leone.




Three illegal fishing vessels - the Five Star, Marcia 777 and the Kum Myeong 2 - have fled Sierra Leone, escaping fines for doing illegal fishing and transhipment in the country's Inshore Exclusion Zone, IEZ.


The disclosure was made yesterday by the Project Coordinator of Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Andy Hickman at a press briefing held at the conference room of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.
He intimated newsmen that another vessel, the Ocean 3, also left the country's waters without paying the entirety of the fine levied against them, noting that fines of almost $300,000 have already been collected.


He said the past six months have witnessed an extraordinary crackdown by the government on illegal fishing in the IEZ and has resulted in the arrest or expulsion of all known illegal trawlers from the country.


"We are witnessing a potentially transformative moment in fisheries enforcement in West Africa. In Sierra Leone, we operate a community surveillance patrol vessel to document evidence of illegal trawler activity within the IEZ reserved for artisanal fishers," he said.


In his response, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Dr. Soccoh Kabia thanked EJF for working tirelessly to curtail illegal fishing in the country.
He noted that illegal fishing is one of the challenges facing the sector, and that the country is losing some $30 million annually as a result of this.


"We are putting mechanisms in place to curtail it," the minister assured. "One of the things we have done is the creation of the Joint Maritime Committee (JMC), which comprises all stakeholders in the sector. We will introduce a monitoring system known as VMS for all fishing vessels."


On the illegal vessels that have fled the country, Dr. Kabia revealed that they are working with regional and international partners to hold the Five Star, Marcia 777 and the Kum Myeong 2 to account. The minister also disclosed that a total of Le13.7 billion was generated by his ministry in 2011, and that $158,000 has so far been collected this year on fines.


Story courtesy of AllAfrica

This successful action by the Leonese government may just help bring further action in combating the huge legalised fishing operation currently being exploited by some of the biggest trawlers in the world - all managed by the PFA - here's an update from Greenpeace:

"The Arctic Sunrise is still in the waters of Mauritania, and yes, the old Atlantic Dawn is one of the Pelagic Freezer Trawler Association's fleet, which is "legally" decimating fish stocks in West Africa, 

When Celestino saw the amount of mackerel landed by one man from a 16' punt, he peered down at the boat wanting to know where the rest of the crew were hiding - too many fish for one man to catch he said!

and destroying the livelihoods and communities of fishermen like Issa, Karim and Celestino who came to Newlyn last year."

More recently, Looe fisherman Andy Giles joined a small fleet of dugout boats and witnessed first hand the apparently devastating effect that super-sized trawlers have on inshore stocks - although, of course, it could just be climate change that is forcing these shoals of fish that have been around for centuries to swim elsewhere.

Study this recent article in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/18/uk-west-africa-fishing-quotas  Karim Sall is quoted. 

As posted yesterday, Greenpeace have recently published a report showing how EU taxpayer money is used to support the European factory trawlers operating in West Africa.  It's a perverse situation - in these times of austerity, our taxes are enabling destructive vessels to strip the waters of West Africa, yet, back at home, our small scale fishermen are struggling to survive under the mismanagement of the the broken CFP. Fisheries Minister, Bradshaw is currently involved in moves to reduce the fishing effort through legalising EU fishing vessels to fish elsewhere in the world. 

Rowse Fishing - boat blessing and launch party

The most sought after 'do' to get an invite to in town - the first time an owner has had two brand new big boats built in Newlyn for many a decade - some good news to celebrate in the industry!

It's Wednesday and it's quality inshore fish day.

Dawn breaks over the Bay on another Wednesday morning in Newlyn.....

Just one aspect of the protection afforded to the thornback ray.....

the market was full of quality fish from the inshore fleet this morning, boxers of cracking monk tails.....

a huge turbot would make a fine centrepiece platter for a feast.......

accompanied by these mink cheeks......

last bid on the Sparkling Line's white fish before moving on to the hake.....

berthed on the New Quay, two visitors from north of the border......

wait as the transport reverses up down the quay......

the Lerwick registered Copious.......

and sister ship Prolific.......

with a fresh supply of boxes ready to go aboard......

the floats lashed at the top of the trawl doors are an aid to buoyancy and stability helping to keep the doors upright......

signs of computerised weighing and grading kit aboard the Scottish duo......

a deck full of action aboard the beam trawler Louisa N as Ollie and the boys get stuck in to overhauling the chain mats on the trawls.

Discards - heading in the right direction?

Here's a response from fisheries consulatant Yan Giron in the wake of Monday's discard debate following a story that appeared in the Guardian. In the same way that last week's red meat scare emanated from the BBC when they picked up on some statistics that did not hold up under close scrutiny, here the Guardian's article reports the story as it has unfolded over the past year.

"The discards issue has been the subject of heavy lobbying in the past year, since the EU fisheries chief, Maria Damanaki, backed a change to the European common fisheries policy (CFP) to ban discards. Her reforms would mean fishermen would be forced to land all fish they catch, in return for compensation.

Some fishermen – mainly in companies with industrial-scale vessels – want to keep the present arrangement because by throwing back lower value, though edible, fish they can maximise their profits.

Discarding is a consequence of the strict quotas in the EU under the common fisheries policy on the amount of fish that boats may land. When fishermen exceed their quota, or catch species of fish for which they do not have a quota, they must discard the excess."

Yan's response reads as follows:"

Coming back to the discard ban and Hugh's new passion for French. 

What was adopted yesterday was exactly what our Industry fishermen, small scale and industrial, were told would be the French position and what they requested. They never requested what was supposed to be inside this "French declaration". What comes in final with this "declaration", was it real or not or only a targeted leak to make them believe such a declaration exits, I have to be fair, I don't know. I am not in the last circle of French government. But the French professionnal position was exactly the one which was adopted : no systematic discard ban, approach fishery by fishery, a strong wish to tackle bycatches. And usually fishermen profesionnals are not used to bypassed-ways to tell the thing.

So now Hugh's yesterday mood and his new love for the French: There is no French or Spanish or Belgian or Scottish fishermen anti-discard revolution. Just a different way of finding solution. Tackling bycatches This way of designating a foe to fight against is neither a wish to be simple, nor a deliberate strategy to self-raise himself as a salvator. This last option is quite close to the one also used by some newspapers and some NGOs. 

It is quite usefull to mask real discard causes, such as British Fixed Quota Allocated FQA (monetizing the right to work). Which is also convenient for British representatives. Only Richard LochHead (sorry, a Scot) assumes a sense of honour and courageously doesn't fear Hugh's acrymony by telling the truth : "we don't want simplistics discard bans". 

So it looks as if Hugh was now playing an easy game, a good old recipe in a good old pot used by Mac Carthy in good old times: the opening of the witch hunt . It is the season.

Step 1: create a global and continuous feeling of stress based on pure emotion. 1 year of tough work.

Step 2 : create a sudden mass indignation with an emergency situation- notimetothink (this secret note from these Filthy French B...). But fishermen opposition to a discard ban and their wish to avoid bycatches were public since long for anyone who read the public declaration of Spain, France (as for British Nat Fed of Fishermen Organisation NFFO, Scottish Fishermen Association SFA, EUROPECHE ones). There was no real surprise. 

Step 3 : have a good friend in a well famed newspaper. Invite him/her for dinner. Be so seductive that it makes him/her forget journalist code of ethics. Something like "check your source", "find various expertise from various side if you don't understand"," present all the facts and point of view including Fishermen one (see e.g. NFFO proposals), not judge them". 

Step 4 : Use latest information technology and independant newspaper to send the mod, by playing on old angers and fears (French/British 100-years war, the underdeveloped thieves from the Southern Europe, Napoleon, Trafalgar, Nelson, Hornblower, Edith Cresson, De Gaulle, Chirac and Irak, my Mom - sorry Mom), in a way that makes everyone feel courageously actor of the fight - send your stone, send your indignated tweet ! Then congratulate them warmly – « thanks to you we avoid a mass disaster - and we kick some French a...”- “let's prepare the next battle”. 

Step 5 : Never be wrong; "We are not guilty. It is Europe's Fault, it is Froggies' fault. FQAs don't exist. we never forced our fishermen to highgrade their catches, by creating economic unbearable conditions for them to satisfy liberal ideology" 

Step 6 : never be wrong : yesterday, the discard ban was not voted. If I understand well, it was voted/discussed a position which more refers to an approach fishery by fishery, as proposed for long by Spain France, Scotland, Belgian and others fishermen professional. So it is not a success for the dogmatic ban, by chance. But slightly change your target from "ban discard" to "prevent French declaration", and it becomes a victory for him against these sea pirates. Thanks to these 180,000 new twitter army. But, actually what was voted was already a minimum consensus for all. 

Step 7 : ne-ver-be-wrong. If doubts about that, refer to step 5. 

I am thankfull to Hugh to have raised the discard problem, which is a concern and a real concern in the North Sea. A long time ago, on Hugh's website it was written something like "I am not a specialist, I only see a problem, I don't have the solution". What a wise man. Sincerely I was impressed. It is good also to see the conscience for sustainable fisheries raised up by non specialists. That was before. 

Now he has found a magic and simplistic solution, easy to raise, easy to communicate, no understanding: problem is discard; Just ban the problem. 

No difficult words such as "why" or "how". He told you, he's not a specialist. It's pure gold for Communication officers and Fund raising activity. Everyone would understand. Everyone could feel angry not to see quick improvements. Nobody has to think or get more information. Everyone will be confident of you for years, whatever you say. 

So Hugh, I am normally constructive and opened to discussion. But I am angry against what you did. You may disagree with me, but, please, stop holding fishermen against themselves or designating foes. 

If it is not what you intended to do, it is how we saw it from France. Use your media powers to show  what has to be done in selectivity or other technical solutions to avoid bycatch. Promote co-management. European fishing industry has fishing gear specialists who need support. This won’t be a pro fishermen propaganda. But will bring the debate where real solutions can be implemented because also designed by fishermen. The road is long to reach better fishing gear or quota use. It think it is less simple but more efficient at last."
Yan Giron

 Comments welcomed!