Elizabeth Caroline sinks on the way to be scrapped, Marie Clare sinks on her mooring.

Two of Newlyn's oldest residents left the port on their last voyages and have both sunk......

The tug MTS Valour towed the two vessels from Newlyn intending to rendevous with another tug before towing both vessels up the river Exe to be scrapped.

There were no crew aboard either at the time of the sinkings. The Elizabeth Caroline went down off Salcombe at 50'08.439 -03'53.603.

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The Marie Claire made it to the harbour at Salcombe where she later sank on her mooring...

The Marie Claire while she was fishing from Newlyn freshly painted...

and on the slip for her annual scrub and bottom clean...

Here, the wooden 99 foot beam trawler, Elizabeth Caroline built in 1946 in Lowestoft is seen in better days - skippered for many years by David Senior - when she was still fishing...

when not fishing, her ceremonial duties in the port included being the star of the show for Newlyn Harbour Lights

and her last engagement in the port was as Union Jack flag bearer to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee this summer...

with her fishing letters and number painted out she waits to be towed away for scrapping....

Blog followers have responded and kindly and sent in a few additional pics from the archives...

David Senior, seen here enjoying Christmas celebrations at sea during a Boxing Day to New Year's Eve trip, skippered the Caroline for many years...

the starboard beam trawl is seen here having the cod end emptied...

looks like a few hours of mending ahead for the Dumps and one other (to be identified) on deck...

there's a crude connection of sorts to help name the mate seen here posing in the stern for the camera aboard the Caroline at the time...

that's a fine monk Mr Mate has in his hands...

still more meshes to mend.....

meanwhile, two other ex-Stevenson's beam trawlers, the Jannie en Klaas...

 and the Anneliese were successfully towed to Appledore for breaking. In this instance the steel boats fared somewhat better than their wooden sisters.

Fishy Friday's finest fresh fish from Newlyn

She's up on  the hard as they say - the hard being hard standing - where the drying out area is solid or hard enough to let a vessel 'take the bottom'...

 plenty of good monk tails from the good ship Govenek of Ladram...

 there's plenty of old WS&S fish tallies to be used up yet before the new style are issued...

 this time of year the congers have a high fat content...

 that's one big ling, or a 'git louster' as he might have been referred to in times past...

 local sardines keeping an eye on things, hopefully BBQ bound...

 say no more...

 turbot by the box should fill the plates of diners in some restaurants this coming weekend...

 my spots are redder than your spots said one plaice to another...

 home made harbour prawn pot...

 Sparkling Line busy taking off the old and on with the new, nets that is...

 a pretty dull start to the day...

though there are signs that the sun might be just about to break cover behind the Mount.

Live broadcast from Kevin on the Bess gets recommended

The Bambuser web site gave the most recent broadcast from inshore fisherman Kevin Penney aboard the Bess the thumbs up and included his banding lobsters clip in their current recommended list.

Mid week and the harbour is empty - must be fine weather and neap tides

Coaches a-plenty at this time of year as twitchers flock to the far west of Cornwall in search of those elusive migrating winged friends...

mostly top drawer inshore fish for sale this morning...

though the macks are still thin on the ground...

hey Mr Bass man...

Newlyn can do #cod just as well as #Grimsby #fish can...

Padstow hake from the netter Charisma...

three old timers set the scene...

looking aft on the Plymouth Tall Ship, Joahnna Lucretai...

looking ship-shape...

looking for'ard...

a rose by any other name...

simple technology...

under tension...

it's the dead of the neaps (the lowest or middle of the neap current tide) and the harbour is empty of almost the entire fleet apart from a handful of retired or near-retired boats.

Fishermen's Friends down under thwart the Abel Tasman (was Margiris)

Story courtesy of Greenpeace Australia Pacific

The Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke has announced new laws that will ban the Margiris super trawler for up to two years. Burke acknowledged overwhelming public concern in reaching this significant decision. Congratulations to the thousands of passionate Australians, community and environmental groups and fishing groups have stopped the Margiris from destroying Australia‘s oceans

Today is a huge day for people power. Federal Environment Minister has announced a ban on the super trawler for up to two years and further scientific investigations before boats like this are approved. This is what we have been calling for and we congratulate the Australian Government on listening to the community and taking action.

“There has been no doubt there has been a massive public focus on this.”
Environment Minister Burke

It was the united action of community members, environmentalists and fishing groups that convinced the government to protect Australia’s fish stocks, marine wildlife and fishing communities.

This victory is testimony to the power of collective will and the importance of standing up for what’s right.st

Because of the donations received by Greenpeace supporters, we were able to:

• Highlight the dangerous flaws in the approval process and the threat to Australia’s fishing communities, fish stocks and marine ecosystems.
• Track the Margiris’ route, raise awareness of its pending arrival and take direct action as it hit Australian waters.
• Publicise the super trawler’s destructive history and present the investigative research Greenpeace had conducted across the globe over many years.
• Reveal the European Union subsidies that keep these over-sized vessels in operation.
• Heighten awareness in threatened regional coastal towns with media advertisements.
• Unite with a unique coalition of groups to mobilise diverse communities, hold rallies and pressure the government.

Looking forward

This is a significant setback for the European super trawler fleet – however the campaign against destructive fishing needs to continue.

The Margiris is just one fishing vessel that is impacting marine ecosystems globally. The global fishing fleet is catching more fish than nature can sustaiJn. In our region, the Pacific faces the threat of over-sized foreign vessels every day.

Greenpeace will continue its global campaign against overfishing and destructive fishing practices.

Today we can celebrate this wonderful victory.


Just to provide some baalance to the news, the Sydney Morning Herald has published a response from Gerry Green representing the owners and mangers of the Margiris - now renamed the Abel Tasman:

OPINION

"The federal government's decision to legislate to give it power to selectively stop the Abel Tasman from fishing is a reaction to the controversy and anxiety stirred up by environmentalists.

Much was said by the Environment Minister, Tony Burke, about public opinion but this was strongly influenced by a sophisticated campaign of misinformation.
All of the claims made about the impact of the Abel Tasman on fish stocks and the wider ecosystem are nonsense and have been dismissed by Australian fisheries scientists and by the government regulator, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA).

It is extraordinary that the environmentalists and the government simply dismiss the science that determined the catch limit and throw into question the credibility of the fisheries manager, the AFMA. One politician has gone as far as to question the honesty of AFMA.

The fact is that Seafish Tasmania has met every rule, regulation and request made of us.

The intervention at one minute to midnight in the process sends an awful message to potential investors in Australia to be very afraid. Changing the rules after a business has committed years of time and money into a project is a big risk for investors.

Dashing the hopes of 45 people employed in regional Devonport where jobs are hard to come by is just cruel.

The government can't shirk responsibility for where we are at. It's not as if it just snuck up. The Fisheries Management Act 1991 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 set out a clear process for assessing all the environmental, scientific and social consequences of any fishing activity.

Seafish Tasmania has followed this process for the past seven years, working with AFMA and the federal government, including conducting and facilitating all the necessary scientific analysis.

The operating rules for the fishery are contained in the Small Pelagic Fishery Management Plan that was passed by Federal Parliament in 2009. Accompanying that legislation was a document titled The 2009 Harvest Strategy for the fishery that gives the rules for setting quotas. In its preamble, that harvest plan says: “It is likely that large-scale factory freezer trawlers will be used in this fishery.”

So, how were we to read this? How could ministers and other members of Parliament be unaware of what they were passing into law? Since late 2011, Seafish Tasmania has been looking for partners with a suitable vessel to invest in the fishery. We brought representatives of the Dutch fishing company Parlevliet & Van der Plas BV to Australia to meet with AFMA in February this year to gain assurances that the proposed operation would gain AFMA approval.

At this meeting, AFMA assured us that if the vessel was flagged Australian it would be treated the same as any other Australian vessel. That, of course, gave them the confidence to invest and bring the vessel to Australia. Our intentions to bring the vessel have been discussed at numerous AFMA advisory committee meetings before and since that time.

Seafish Tasmania has been fishing mackerel and redbait from its base at Triabunna on Tasmania's east coast for many years. The company has operated in Tasmania since the 1980s. We have an AFMA quota to fish 18,000 tonnes of redbait and mackerel. Our quota has varied between 16,000 tonnes and 25,000 tonnes over the past 12 years, so this current quota is quite unexceptional.
As mentioned earlier, the quota was based on science carried out by the South Australian Research and Development Institute and the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Science at the University of Tasmania, and peer-reviewed by CSIRO. A joint report by seven eminent marine scientists from these agencies confirms that the fishery is sustainable and that the quotas are set more conservatively than world's best-practice guidelines published by international environmental groups – normally no friends to fishing.

The rules for setting quotas in the Commonwealth's Small Pelagic Fishery for mackerel and redbait are closely modelled on the proven approach used in the South Australian sardine fishery, which incidentally has a catch limit of 34,000 tonnes. Unlike the sardine fishery, which is fished in a relatively small area of the Spencer Gulf, the redbait and mackerel fishery covers a huge area from Queensland to Western Australia. This is one reason behind the need for a large-scale freezer trawler. It also reduces the possibility of localised depletion of fish stock.

Simply put, the ship needs to be able to fish throughout the fishery to take advantage of different fishing seasons in different areas rather than concentrating its catching effort within close range of a home port during certain months when the fish turn up.

To operate throughout the fishery, the vessel has to freeze its catch on board. This means that the catch is high-quality, being frozen within hours of capture, and is suitable for human consumption. The largest market for mackerel-like species is in west Africa, where the fish represent a relatively cheap source of protein for people who have few alternative protein sources. Freezing the catch on board is also the main reason why the Abel Tasman is such a large fishing vessel. The vessel is a large floating freezing factory, cold store and home to 45 people, and only about 20 per cent of the vessel is concerned with fishing.

Despite many false claims to the contrary, its mid-water trawl net is roughly the same as other mid-water trawls used in Australia. The potential for accidental bycatch of dolphins and seals is a highly emotive issue. Seafish Tasmania, together with scientists from the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Research in Hobart, has carried out 12 months of research on marine mammal behaviour using underwater video cameras inside the mid-water trawl nets during fishing operations. The lessons learnt from this study were applied to the design of an excluder device that will lead these animals to an escape.

We are confident this device works. But, while we're confident, it was always intended that the operation of the net and the excluder device would be monitored by AFMA observers using underwater cameras. An AFMA bycatch mitigation expert and a European net and excluder design expert would be onboard to monitor the effectiveness of the excluder.

Much of the emotional response to our vessel is due to claims, most of them erroneous, about the vessel's history. The fact is the vessel does not have a personality. It is how it is used now that counts. There is no better place in the world to use a large-scale freezer trawler than in Australia where it is subject to quotas, onboard observers and tough operating conditions imposed by government.

All we wanted, and still want, is a chance to demonstrate that we can fish responsibly and sustainably within the rules."

Gerry Geen is the director of Seafish Tasmania

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/all-we-want-is-to-fish-within-the-rules-20120912-25s9l.html#ixzz26FDEY2ro

MFV Sarah Jayne sinks - one crew missing

A major search was under way this afternoon after a trawler sank off Berry Head.

BM249 Sarah Jayne rigged for scalloping

One fisherman was said to be missing while two others were rescued by another vessel. They were brought ashore by helicopter and were recovering at torbay Hospital.
MCA Press release issued at 1330

Local fishing boats, lifeboats and merchant ships search for the missing fisherman from the Sarah Jayne

Torbay and Exmouth lifeboats were at sea searching the area. Other fishing boats from Brixham were scouring the area in the hope of finding the missing man.

The Betty G II and the Sparkling Star III were among the fishing boats taking part in the search late this afternoon.

Other boats including the Sasha Emiel put out from Brixham around 4pm to join in the search.

The capsized boat has been identified as the Sarah Jayne, a 49 foot beam trawler. It is believed to be registered in Exmouth but may have been working out of Brixham.

The RNLI confirmed that the search was taking place two and a half miles east of Berry Head.

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave Knight was making its way to the scene as the search continued.

The Coastguard helicopter from Portland was also involved in the operation, searching the area where the trawler went down.

Brixham Coastguard first picked up a distress alert from the fishing vessel Girl Rhona at 11:24am, informing them that another fishing vessel had capsized 2.5 miles off Berry Head and they had managed to retrieve two of the three fishermen from the water.

A Coastguard spokesman said: "The Coastguard Rescue helicopter was scrambled from Portland and the Torbay RNLI lifeboat was requested to launch.

"A Mayday broadcast was put out to shipping in the area and a number of vessels including the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave Knight have offered assistance in the search currently being coordinated by Brixham Coastguard."

The capsized vessel is a 15m beam trawler operating out of Brixham.

Story courtesy of ThisIsSouthDevon.co.uk

Sun-up Helford style

Fishing report from our Helford correspondent - Just as well the morning started so well, verging on something more reminiscent of the waters in the Maldives, Helford Passage provides a stunning seascape as the sun climbs into the sky. Twenty four nautical miles later and seven mackerel to show for the effort hardly constitutes a day's pay! Better luck tomorrow.