Welcome to Through the Gaps, the UK fishing industry's most comprehensive information and image resource. Newlyn is England's largest fish market and where over 50 species are regularly landed from handline, trawl, net, ring net and pot vessels including #MSC Certified #Hake, #Cornish Sardine, handlined bass, pollack and mackerel. Art work, graphics and digital fishing industry images available from stock or on commission.
The University of Exeter use baited remote underwater video systems to help describe mobile marine species diversity in Cornish waters. Here we show red gurnard in the cameras field of video. You will see other fish species including haddock and lesser spotted dogfish. There are a number of other videos showing the range of fish swimming around the hub Red Gurnards are now so popular that many are being sold for consumption at home - here's how to fillet these mega tasty fish - despite their rather vicious appearance! - courtesy of Sue and Duncan Lewis at Passionate About Fish!
Greenpeace poised to launch major attack on U.K. fishing organization, writes Cormac Burke, Editor of Fishing News.
The attitude of the environmental group Greenpeace towards the international fishing industry has been well documented in recent years.
What began as a respected challenge against illegal fishing, human rights abuses of crews and a general ideology in protecting the world's oceans has become an apparent direct assault on the commercial fishing industry in a bid to halt any and all developments.
In Europe for example, no matter how severe the quota reductions passed every December by the European Union's Council of Ministers, Greenpeace will release statements describing it as a 'cop out' by ministers and that the EU are guilty of continuing to encourage plundering of stocks.
While more forward thinking and progressive conservation groups, such as PEW and WWF, accept that quota reductions and voluntary technical fishing gear changes can eventually lead to a sustainable fishing industry, Greenpeace have repeatedly proven that they are not interested in such a future.
Next Monday (Feb. 4) Greenpeace are to launch the results of a study that they have undertaken into the operations of one of the United Kingdom's biggest and most respected fishing industry groups -- the National Federation of Fishing Organizations (NFFO).
This so called 'big story' is to be released to all of the UK's national news media and apparently reveals that the NFFO membership includes 57 percent foreign investment and also that the NFFO advised the EU Commission that non official inshore fishermen's groups should not have a voice on Europe's Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) -- an ongoing hot topic in the UK in relation to quota share-out between the inshore and larger sector fishing fleets.
Personally, I believe that if a member of the NFFO who is an owner of a large trawler, chooses to sell a portion of his business venture to someone outside of the UK, then that is neither the fault nor the responsibility of the NFFO.
Also, in relation to the RACs and unofficial inshore groups, the NFFO is only echoing the already stated policy of the EU Commission and this is not a 'leaked document' as Greenpeace are trying to dramatically claim.
No, there is a much bigger picture here – one that presumably will not be included by Greenpeace in their press release next week.
Early last year, Greenpeace made much noise about the fact that they were going to help the UK's inshore fishermen by forming by an alliance with the inshore group NUTFA (New Under Ten Fishermens Association).
NUTFA and NFFO have been at odds for quite some time over quota allocations and UK Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon has intervened several times to attempt to calm the debate.
And now, surprise surprise, we see Greenpeace launching a very public attack on the NFFO.
The question arises “just who is using who here?”
While NUTFA may, in their innocence, have thought that getting the weight of a major group such as Greenpeace behind them would help their cause, they have merely opened the door and given the world's most recognized anti fishing industry group a foothold inside the UK's industry where they can attempt to dismantle it from within.
NUTFA should be aware that Greenpeace would launch a similar attack on them in the morning if it suited their purpose.
Even if the NFFO is guilty in some way of a misdemeanor, which they aren't as far as this journalist can see, then this is a case for the UK fishing minister and his officials to deal with.
It has nothing to do with overfishing, abuse of quotas, breaking any regulation that the public needs to be urgently made aware of.
In short, it is simply none of Greenpeace's business and one can only wonder if this is the first of many attacks planned against the industry for the coming year.
Article courtesy of Cormac Burke, Editor of Intrafish publications Fishing News and Fishing News International. And here is the said article from GreenPeace:
It’s a classic case of smoke and mirrors, and at stake is one of our greatest national assets – fish.
This is likely to be the first time anyone has scrutinised the claims and membership of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) despite its role as one of the government’s main industry advisory bodies on fishing matters. I'm sure the government will be as surprised as I was at what we uncovered.
The NFFO claims to be "the representative body for fishermen in England, Wales and Northern Ireland," looking out for the interests of boats both small and large. An ambitious role we thought, so we decided to investigate how true this was.
Over many long months looking into the secret membership of the NFFO, by analysing complex company accounts and shipping registers, we were all astonished to discover that:
Over half of the NFFOs fleet is controlled by foreign fishing interests. This means that, whilst these boats sail under the Union Jack, they are ultimately controlled by companies or individuals from other countries. This means they use the UK's fishing quota, and will often fish in UK waters; however, they probably contribute next to nothing to the UK economy. The kicker here is that these boats are some of the largest and most powerful in the fleet.
The NFFO is inflating its claims as to how many fishermen’s associations it actually represents. We were able to verify that 11 out of 20 listed on the NFFO's website are in fact not members. These include associations that are no longer members, have never been members or don’t even exist anymore.
The NFFO is working against the interests of small-scale fishermen. In a letter leaked to our investigators, we discovered that the NFFO is trying to deny small-scale fishermen wider representation on key political forums in Europe. This is really significant at a time when the overarching rules governing fishing in Europe are being reformed.
The NFFO represents vessels involved in illegal fishing on a large scale. For example, the O Genita and its Spanish Vidal family owners – who we exposed in another investigation last year – is an NFFO member and was central to the largest illegal fishing case in British maritime history with penalties of £1.62m.
What does this all mean?
Our investigation reveals that the more sustainable part of our fishing fleet is being shut out of the very system that dictates whether they prosper or go bust. The NFFO is giving the impression that it represents most of the fleet and that it's a friend of small scale boats, but this investigation shows that their membership is dominated by large powerful, often foreign controlled vessels, and they just pay lip service to the interests of the small scale fleet.
In a situation where about two-thirds of Europe’s fish stocks are overfished, it is crucial we defend the interests of those that fish in a more sustainable way and with a lower impact on the environment. Over three-quarters of the fishing boats in the UK fleet are considered small scale. They are vital to our fishing industry as they support more jobs – in England this fleet represents 65% of jobs at sea – and they help to maintain the social cultural and economic fabric of the coastal communities we all love so much.
This sector is desperately trying to forge itself better representation at a political level to try to match the might of the NFFO, so it's simply shocking that the NFFO is trying to prevent this.
Of course, fisheries minister Richard Benyon could reassure everyone that he isn't simply taking his cues from a one-sided lobby group. What he should be looking for from the NFFO is transparency: a public list of members, for instance, or corrections for the false claims it's made about various fishermen's associations it represents.
What’s in the tin really matters, and it seems we really have opened a can of worms with this one.
Thanks to British lobbying, a proposed 55% cut in the tonnage of haddock caught in the Celtic Sea was reduced to 15%, while off other parts of the British coast, plaice, sole, scampi, whiting and herring quotas were increased, though the stocks are at a tiny fraction of their historic levels. All our main commercial species are constantly teetering on the edge of ecological collapse, as the industry fishes right up to and often beyond the point at which they can sustain even their desperately depleted numbers.
All this was accompanied by what the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) called "another major success, achieved during the first day of negotiations, when the UK successfully stopped a cut in the number of days that fishermen are allowed to spendfishing at sea". The cut was to have been a central feature of the EU's cod recovery plan. Defra boasts that it "overturned this agreement". Another triumph for British diplomacy, seeing off the dark forces of science and reason.
The minister responsible, Richard Benyon, describes this idiocy as "the best possible deal for the UK fishing industry". For 2013 perhaps. And the worst possible deal for its future prospects, let alone for the health of our marine ecosystems.
The chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, Bertie Armstrong, who plainly has a lively sense of humour, called it "a good outcome based on the science". To show how badly this industry has been rolled up in its own nets, he added that "the decision [by the EU] to set our overall share of the mackerel at the traditional level was also a sensible move."
Again and again over the past few decades, our fishing industry has clamoured noisily to cut its own throat, then responded with astonishment and fury when it collapses as a result. Is there a clearer example of being blinded to your long-term interests by short-term greed?
All this has been accompanied by the government's failure to establish the 127 marine conservation zones it promised, and even more astonishing refusal to exclude industrial activities (principally commercial fishing) from any of the 31 it deigns to designate. (I'll write about this next week). The fishing industry - principally the owners of the biggest industrial trawlers - is the only interest this government will heed. It too is gambling with extinction.
A handful of cod were just some of the top quality whitefish fetching premium prices on a fish starved Monday market after a prolonged period of poor weather passed over the UK...
mackerel were probably by weight the most abundant species...
whereas John Dorys were a little thin on the ground...
best bass were never going to be cheap this morning...
as the harbour woke up to a relatively calm look, though somewhat deceiving as the strong North westerly winds have little effect in the harbour coming off the top of the surrounding land...
nearing completion, Sapphire II is almost finished her MSC safety work which has delayed her fishing career far longer than the skipper and owners might have wished for!
Chief's full-back Jack Nowell heads for the touch line .
Destined for greater things, Jack Nowell, sone of Michael Nowell skipper of the beam trawler Louisa N graces the cover of yesterday's programmes for the Exeter Chiefs' in their game against Northampton. Unlucky not to be awarded Man of the Match (again), a try scoring young Jack played an outstanding game of rugby as the Pinkun's crushed the Saints 28-19 to secure a top place in the table. Young Jack, who should have been playing for England U20s against Scotland will remember one moment in the match when he took out opposite number Ben Foden with a crunching tackle. Newlyn, born and bred, England's future full-back is in the making.
Two of the most recent Penlee lifeboat shouts tracked by Vesselracker AIS
Both the Lizard and Penlee lifeboats were involved in a shout on Saturday evening - never the most social time to have the bleeper go off. Undaunted, both boats put to sea after red flares were reported off Mullion. Sadly, the time spent at sea searchin was in vain as it eventually became clear that the shout was indeed a false alarm.
An expensive waste of time, effort and not to say cost of fuel with around 3000hp worth of engine power being unleashed between the two vessels.
