Fisherman's son, Jack Nowell named the LV= Breakthrough Player

Photo and story courtesy of the RFU.

Exeter Chiefs wing, Jack Nowell was today named the LV= Breakthrough Player for the 2012/13 season after a shortlist of ten nominees from the LV=Cup was put to a public vote.

The LV=Breakthrough Player Award is designed to recognise the next generation of young players under 23 competing in the LV=Cup; a competition renowned for developing future international stars.

Nowell was nominated for the LV= Breakthrough Player Award following his outstanding performances throughout all four pool stages of this season’s LV=Cup and went onto beat the likes of Bath’s Tom Heathcote and Harlequins Luke Wallace to win this year’s award.

The eye catching performances were backed up by the statisticians at Opta, who ranked him as the top performing back in the LV=Cup this season. Nowell beat more defenders and made more metres in attack than any other player in the competition, despite Chiefs failure to reach the knock-out stages.

The Real Fish Fight back!

Great turnout in Peterhead for the first Real Fish Fight campaign meeting at Peterhead.

Here's a comment from John Buychan, one of the organisers:

#Realfishfight wants to make it clear that this is not a Scottish campaign or a fisherman's campaign. Realfishfight is a fishing community campaign. I would like to hear from other fishing communities anywhere.

How has your fishing community been affected by never ending cycle of cuts. l left school at 16 and went to the fishing all my friends who were fishermen.  Not one of them are left at the fishing now!!


The fishing industry is but a shadow of It,s former self, and unfortunately this is also reflected in the communities it supports. So what IS needed to turn this negative situation around? Reasons given for this decline have been many. The challenge now is to list up subjects to be addressed and the available/ possible means of alleviating them. SO please make a list of areas to be addressed, and preferably rank them in order of importance. Keep in there. Ian K. 


A preliminary meeting was held in Newlyn's Mission yesterday with a view to enlisting the help of Cornwall's newest TV venture and Business Forum.

Sapphire II on her maiden voyage - at last!

Great to see the Sapphire II has finally managed to make her way out through the gaps! Skipper Mike Corin must be mightily relieved the nightmare that is the DTI is finally over so that he can now get on with the business of catching fish!

The EU is at risk of violating its international obligations if efforts to reform the Common Fisheries Policy prove unsuccessful.

Recent months have seen renewed efforts to reform the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy. Alexander Proelss assesses the EU’s track record, noting that 81 per cent of European fish stocks are currently overfished by the EU’s own estimates, and that this figure may be even higher depending on the measurement used. A number of different obstacles will need to be overcome if the reform efforts are to be successful, not least finding a way around the significant political opposition within Member States to any reduction in fishing quotas.

According to the European Union’s 2009 green paper on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), 81 per cent of European fish stocks are overfished. Some scientists argue that even this prediction is clearly underestimating the actual state of European fish stocks. Based on the notion that a fish stock is overfished if its biomass is too small to produce maximum sustainable yield (MSY), it has been argued that under a “business as usual” scenario, 91 per cent of European fish stocks will fail to meet the goal of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation – according to which fish stocks are to be maintained at or restored to “levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield with the aim of achieving these goals for depleted stocks on an urgent basis and where possible not later than 2015”. While these figures are subject to a certain degree of controversy, as no sufficiently specific legal definitions exist of what MSY and “overfished” mean quantitatively, they demonstrate that little progress has been made in achieving the fundamental reforms necessary for a sustainable fisheries sector in Europe.

There are several reasons for the failure of the CFP, which range from biological, economical and legal factors, to political shortcomings. An ideal fisheries policy would foster the sustainable use of fish stocks, provide for coherent laws and regulations that yield adequate economic incentives, and guarantee consistent enforcement of the legal framework. Even though it is undeniable that some progress has been achieved concerning the restoration of certain fish stocks, none of these requirements has been fully met by the CFP as it stands today. Against this background, current attempts to reform the CFP will not only determine whether Europe will be capable of preserving and sustainably managing a finite natural resource, but will also affect the economic survival of the European fisheries industry.

From a governance perspective, the political challenges involved in the matter are particularly relevant due to the fact that the conservation of marine biological resources under the CFP is one of the very few areas with regard to which the European Union (EU) exercises exclusive competence. The public disgrace attached to the potential failure to implement the necessary reforms will hopefully provide an incentive for the EU’s institutions to agree on the required measures.

Full article on the LSE blog here:

The Real Fish Fight - A Call to Arms!

Taken from closed steering group Evolution of the Real Fish Fight: Ian Kinsey

We all pretty much agree on what we want for the fishing industry, a sustainable future for coastal communities. The Fishing industry has made considerable progress over the last few years in regards to selection and reducing discards - the very backbone of responsible fisheries ---- the getting there has been, and will be a "slippery slope" for some time to come. 

An important part of making a good strategy when championing the fishing industry, is being clear of what is out there, both pro, and anti-fishing. We all have a good idea of the size and extent of the anti-fishing lobby, but what of the pro- fishing organisations? 

We have many large and small fishermen's organisations around the UK and Ireland --- we need to bring them together in a "coalition of fishers for future", a new platform must encompass and give recognition to all the work these organisations have done through the years. 

We have also science groups such as Cefas, Marine Scotland, Seafish and many more that have collaborated with the fishing industry through the Industry and Science Partnership, and not forgetting the WWF, who have supported the conservation credits scheme. 

Let's not try to "invent the wheel again", but be a facilitator for all the good that is in the industry, be it either at sea or on land - catching, processing, marketing, science and management.

Why UK fishermen need to be more aware and more pro-active

http://www.euronews.com/ "The Brussels Business" is a new documentary film, focusing on the influence of lobbyists on the decision-making process in Europe. 

 It resonates a clear message: there is a striking lack of transparency at the heart of the EU, little control over the estimated 15,000 lobbyists at work in Brussels.

The films directors, Austrian Friedrich Moser and his Belgian counterpart Matthieu Lietaert discuss the issues in Close Up

Seafood Guide from Seafish