Penlee's Ivan Ellen, out in the Bay on exercise accompanied by a glaucous gull

Culdrose SAR helicopter Rescue193 carries out a routine training exercise in the Bay on Saturday morning...

and some of the more eagle-eyed readers may just spot the white feathers of a visiting glaucous gull among the gulls attempting to avail themselves of scraps from the small tosher cleaning his nets...

seen here captured in flight by Martin Elliot who also provided the Ivan Ellen photos. The gull is thought top be about four years old and possibly the same one that has been spotted in and around the harbour over the last couple of years. These gulls were more common years ago - they are great scavengers and will follow the fishing boats looking for scraps!  In the arctic, where they are found in larger numbers they breed all year round.

There's no horse in Horse Mackerel

There's no horse in these cracking mackerel....

but these little beauties are 100% horse mackerel - or scad.

Painters and Posers - Newlyn School,artists and their models

Shout out to fishermen - 5 Day Navigation and Watchkeeping Course in Newlyn

 
Our next 5 Day Navigation and Watchkeeping Course will be taking place at Newlyn Fishermen's Mission 25th Feb - 1st March.
 
To check if you're eligible for funding and to book your place please call Emma on 01736 364324
 
Cornwall Seafood Training

Seems there's money in mackerel

Mackerel is caught by 25 boats registered in Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Lerwick. It is the industry's most valuable catch, worth £164m in 2011, or one-third of all the fish landed.

That's £164,000,000 / 25 = £6,560,000

info courtesy of the Herald Scotland

Strong North westerlies!

Tied up since the end of last week, wind-bound boats include... 

the Saint Malo trawler, Cezembre take shelter from this week's chilly northwesterly blast....

with a ground sea big enought to keep even the top two stern trawler's in port...

crab and net boats will look to sail later in the day...

while out in the Bay a number of small(ish) coasters lay at anchor.

NFFO Welcomes European Parliament Vote but Warns about Practical Implementation Issues

“The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisation has welcomed the vote today in the European Parliament as a step towards a more rational and effective fisheries policy. However, it warned that the history of the CFP has been littered with well intentioned pieces of legislation that have failed because insufficient attention had been paid to how the measures could be implemented. How political aspirations are translated into meaningful and achievable measures should now become the focus, as the Parliament, member states and the European Commission enter discussions on the final shape of the new Common Fisheries Policy.

As with any large legislative package, there is good and bad in the compromise text. For us, the key to a more effective fisheries policy is the decentralisation of decision-making to the regional seas level. It is only at this scale that management measures can be tailored to the fleets and fisheries involved and adaptive management can hope to work. We always recognised that there would be a discard ban in some form or other within this reform. The real issue however concerns the practical issues of applying such a policy at the level of each individual fishery. The European Parliament now has a mandate to begin discussions with the other European institutions. We hope that rhetoric and grandstanding will be left behind as the talks focus on the real outstanding issues.”

Barrie Deas, Chief Executive, National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations