Unusual to see a Dutch trawler in Newlyn

Photo courtesy of Wayne Davey

The 199t Dutch stern trawler MARRETJE-AALTJE was in Newlyn yesterday mending her trawl on the quay.

Cygnus Marine Boats' latest GM26

Latest Cygnus GM26 to be lifted from her mould for a lucky south west skipper!

Video of the latest stage of build of the Cygnus Marine GM26 as a Westcountry beach boat. Another A1 boat, there is a 22.5ft version as well. 

This one (the GM26) has a rocker-style keel for beach work, adapted from the deep draft version. Another hull design from Gary Mitchell!

Details are all on the website of Cygnus Marine Boats Ltd.

Latest Blue Charity news from our French fishing consultants

Yan Giron Do you want to know much about ENGOs, their funders - Charitables trusts- the threat on fishing grounds? 

A new page https://www.facebook.com/pages/BLUE-LOBBY-EU/130245477156601 

BLUE LOBBY EU Rendre plus transparent l'activité des blue lobbys et du Blue Charity Business 

Make more transparent Blue Charity Business and Blue Lobbys' activity Page:

NGOs ‘should shift focus to helping fishermen implement policy’

EU fishermen ‘need flexibility, not micro-management’

• Damanaki makes call for more cameras onboard vessels 
• WWF urges European parliament to vote for CFP reform
• EU backs core fisheries reform to phase out discards March 28, 2013

Neil Ramsden After playing a significant role in common fisheries policy (CFP) reform, environmental campaign groups should now put their resources into working with fishermen, industry expert Mogens Schou told Undercurrent News. CFP reform was in large part initiated by NGOs, who still have a role to play according to Schou, the former Danish ministers’ adviser for fisheries and aquaculture, and current chair of the EU Commission’s standing committee on agricultural research for fish.

“One result [of the CFP] is a disruptive change in management, and for that to work you have to move from lobbying in the corridors of the EU to implementing at sea,” he said.

“For reform to work in the common interest and reach full potential, the NGOs should change financial resources from lobbying to helping fishermen implement new policy.”

He pointed to the WWF as an example of an NGO which, in some EU member states, has adopted this constructive approach, before describing the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) as the NGO which has most strongly embarked on this course.

EDF has found that the most successful way of working towards fishery management is by consulting fishermen in a participatory process, Britt Groosman, program director for EDF in the EU, told Undercurrent.

“The way to find that out is to talk to all the stakeholders and see what everyone’s concerns are, to try and find a way to get environmental improvement with the buy-in of all the stakeholders involved,” she said.

“Because the more you impose your will on people the more you’ll end up with control issues. People don’t like being told what to do and they’ll try to get around rules.”

The fishermen are the people who implement the policy on the water, and have the real influence, she said.

EDF is relatively new to operating in the EU, and currently works on the ground in Sweden, Spain and the UK.

It acts as a bridge between the fishermen and Brussels, said Groosman, taking the ideas of the fishermen to the policy makers to find the solutions best for everybody – with a focus on keeping the management flexible and not imposing too many rules which apply across every fishery without consideration of differences.

‘Win-win’

EDF’s work with companies such as McDonald’s and FedEx means it is used to finding the ‘win-win’ situation – the solution which helps the environment and improves the bottom line for those involved.

“Very often it works well, because it’s energy efficient requirements, which just save money,” Groosman pointed out.

“What we do is often one of two things: either a voluntary change, in which case you’re going to have to find that win-win because they’re not going to do it if it negatively influences their bottom line.”

“Or, if it’s a regulation, it becomes ‘look, you have to reach this target, let’s try and find the best, cheapest and most efficient way for you to reach it.’”

CFP reform is going to see quite strict environmental controls, so the task for EDF will be to work with fisheries and governments on the framework within which fishermen have to work, she said.

Every fishery goes into this process with different goals, said Groosman, pointing to the criticism which the Danish individual transferable quota fishery received.

“It was criticised for the job losses that came with its concentration, but that was the goal of that fishery’s change. The government wanted to reduce capacity,” she said.

“Every fishery’s different and every one will have different targets, social and economic. Right now Brussels is setting the environmental targets – it will be up to the fishery managers to determine the social and economic targets, and often there’ll be conflict there. That’s why the stakeholder process is so important, to ensure transparency.”

Article courtesy of Mogens Schou in Undercurrent News

Liberty London Girl does the food market in Cadiz - just check out those tuna loins!

Checking out a fish market is one way to ensure you wake up quickly. Jerez’s Mercado Central de Abastos is almost wholly given over to fish sellers and, from the piles of wriggling gambas to the huge chunks of blood red tuna from Barbate an hour south, there is no escaping the overwhelming produce of the sea.

The market, on Calle Doña Blanca in the historic centre of Jerez, dates from 1885, and is one of the oldest food markets in the province of Cadiz. 

Today the building is divided into three areas: meat, fish and fruit and vegetables.

Hard to work out the pricing on some of the fish like thesehake...

plenty of cousins to the Cornish sardine...

and no amount of fresh prawns...

unusual presentation of these skinned hake...

and some good sized tuna steaks on offer...

prepared cuttlefish, maybe these came from Newlyn?...

plenty of hake on offer

I’ve never been known for my love of fish and seafood, and I was sprinting for the vegetable market after a scant ten minutes exploring the fish stalls. (I learnt a lot, and now I need never return to that section.)

Contents of the post and thanks to The LLG blog can be see here

English style journalist, editor & broadcaster Sasha Wilkins is the creator & writer of the multi-award winning lifestyle blog & Twitter feed LibertyLondonGirl. She lives between London, New York & LA, from where she runs LibertyLondonGirl and her social media consultancy LLG Consults.

Mussel growers like James Wilson put their case in response to HFWs Real Fish Fight - he supports his fishing community.

James Wilson is a third generation mussel farmer. Here he gives his views on the issues being raised by Hugh's Fish Fight 3 from an industry perspective as we seek to bring balance and further information to the topics of MPAs, scallop dredging and the potential social and economic impact of the 'Fish Fight' (CH4, UK) campaign.

Produced by Greenroom Films ©Sea Fish Industry Authority 2013

http://www.seafish.org

Deadliest Catch Season 9 begins!

Tonight is THE night! Starting at 8/7c with our new "pregame" show, The Bait. Then the season premiere kicks into full gear at 9/8c.