Newlyn Needler - Issue 2 discovered

Pre the Big Issue and back in the day when the Min of Ag and Fish (MAFF) first began to exert control over the waves, a certain satirical magazine appeared on the top shelf of Barron's newsagents. Conceived, written, illustrated, printed and distributed by a select team of well-known Newlyn wannabe hacks, the 'Newlyn Needler' told of fishing life in Newlyn as it was or as it might have been. 

Difficult, if not impossible at times to separate fact from fiction, the magazine took an irreverent look at the characters who plied their livelihoods in and from the port. Sadly, a few of those characters that may be represented or alluded to in some of the more tame yarns are now sat in the big wheelhouse in the sky, or in Brennan's case a gazillion miles away, way beyond the stratosphere - a copy of the Newlyn Needler has come to light and is now available in digital format is therefore dedicated to their memory.

Apologies made in advance for the numerous 'in' jokes contained herein - as they used to say, you had to be there. As a footnote to the Bessy story (as described in the book, The Swordfish and the Star by Gavin Williamson); a handful of officers from HMS Bulldog, who was carrying out a hydro-graphic survey in Mounts Bay at the time, were in the Swordfish that very lunchtime and witnessed the spectacle of Bessie attempting to drink the aforementioned yard of ale while suspended from the ceiling - unknown to Bessy, the ale was spiked with a huge helping of salt - one of the officers turned to another and said, "I say skips, if it's like this on a Monday lunchtime - what's it like in here on a Friday night??!" The knight in shining armour who came to Bessie's rescue just before his crotch turned into a scene from Towering Inferno was none other than Medallion Man himself - who can now be found running Plymouth Fish Market Plymouth & Sutton Harbour - good move Peter!

Issue One will go on-line a soon as someone finds a copy!

Big Dutchman on Twitter

This was tweeted by the big Dutch boat, Orion from his Twitter account:

"First pull (haul) a 400kg plaice € 1.40 = € 560 a .600 ltr diesel € 0.70 = € 420. net € 140. Nowthe bank, crew and other costs are paid. ????"

King Koffman does cuttlefish bolognese

When the creator of BBC1's Saturday Kitchen presented the concept to host chef James Martin five years ago there's no doubt that when Martin compiled his wish list of chefs to have on the show, top of that list would have been Pierre Koffman - five years later and a dream comes true - here's a chef with no pretentions - at the Berkley Hotel's restaurant, La Tante Claire his signature dish was pig's trotter - and on Saturday's show the three-starred Michelin chef (one of only a handful in the UK) set about demonstrating a simple dish using the humble cuttlefish......... 

 the thickest part of three cuttles were separated, cleaned, squeezed together and frozen.......

 the rest, including tentacles were finely chopped........

 and sautéed in shallots and butter before adding the Bolognese sauce .......

meanwhile, the frozen cuttlefish were sliced on a meat slicer - there's a good chance that you could replicate this at home with a peeler.......

the sliced cuttlefish was then plunged in boiling water for 20 seconds and served as the 'pasta'

with the sauce on top plus garnish - for full details of the recipe and a chance to watch it for the next few days, head on over to the Saturday Kitchen web site........

meanwhile, the end of the cuttlefish season is nigh on Newlyn fish market.

Barbie time - scallops in butter & lemon zest!

Sapphire bounders

Under skipper Mike Corin, the beam trawler Sapphire sails Through the Gaps at the start of another trip. She'll be due to land back in Newlyn for either Friday or Monday of next week - depends on fishing and weather conditions.

Sun shines on Saturday

Calling all net boats, net bins for sale........

spend an evening with Pete Goss talking boats in support of the St Ives Jumbo Association next month......

back based in Newlyn again, a giant of the seas........

not the usual sea bird silhouette.......

more work to be done aboard thew Mount's Bay lugger, Happy Return.......

gangmaster Mike keeping an eye on things.......

plenty of pint still needed for the Gry Maritha........

fixtures and fitting time abord TO60..........

who rides high in the water without any ballast aboard........

not a theatre.

Huge industrial scale?

Here's one of the two 9 metre beam trawls that are towed by the Newlyn beam trawler Billy Rowney.......

Presenter, Monty Hall describes the trawl gear used by the boat as "fishing on a huge industrial scale"......... 

at 30 metres how does that compare? that's not a huge industrial trawler........

this is a huge industrial trawler, one of around 30, licensed by the EU to fish off the West coast of Africa.

"Noakchott / Mauritania, 27th of February 2012 – A report released by Greenpeace today highlights the industrial-scale overfishing by European vessels in West African waters as a result of failed European Union (EU) fishing rules (1). 

At the same time an international Greenpeace team aboard Arctic Sunrise started its campaign in Mauritania in order to document, profile and protest against European super trawlers emptying West Africa’s waters. The extent and effects of these giant European factory trawlers on the region’s fish stocks and coastal communities are devastating, as the international Greenpeace team reports from Mauritania. http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/oceans/Greenpeacewitnesscostofoverfish...

As a revealing example Greenpeace investigations focus on the Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association (PFA), a group of companies with 34 vessels under Dutch, German, French, UK and Lithuanian flags, which have obtained millions in subsidies from the EU and European governments. An estimated €142.7 million of European taxpayers’ money was paid to secure fishing rights for PFA vessels in Mauritanian and Moroccan waters between 2006 and 2012. The PFA fleet also received €21 million to increase and modernise its fishing operations between 1994 and 2007. “It is a big decision, but it is unavoidable if we want to secure healthy fish stocks and a sustainable fishery in the years to come: We need to scrap parts of the obese European fleet and fish less, so fish stocks can recover. If overfishing continues like this we will all lose, especially local fishermen who depend on fish as a main source for food”, says Tom Grijsen, Greenpeace oceans campaigner aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, currently in Mauritanian waters. 

Millions of Africans depend on fish caught by local fishermen, but as a consequence of overfishing by the sizeable European fleet stocks are further decreasing. As a result local fishermen are forced to fish further out at sea because the accessibility to stocks for the coast is diminishing. Working conditions have become increasingly dangerous and fishermen face the risk of collisions with industrial trawlers, which causes besides damage, also increased killings of local fishermen. “The European fleet is unfairly competing with artisanal fishermen. It would take 56 traditional fishing pirogues one year to catch as much fish as one super-trawler can capture and process in a single day”, says Grijsen, and continues: “This year governments in Europe have the chance to fix the EU’s broken fishing rules. It is not too late to agree a new rulebook that tackles overfishing and fleet overcapacity head on.” 

European governments and fisheries ministers need to assume responsibility now by putting in place a new Common Fisheries Policy (2) that tackles Europe’s bloated fleets, starting by scrapping the most destructive and oversized vessels, including factory trawlers operating in the waters of developing countries. It is vital to stop the subsidised plunder of Africa by abolishing all direct and indirect subsidies that support these destructive and unsustainable fishing practices. "Greenpeace will remain actively campaigning for a radical reform of the CFP, as this is our last chance to turn the tide on overfishing", concludes Greenpeace oceans campaigner Tom Grijsen. 

Credit: Pierre Gleizes / Greenpeace