Monday's market

Six am and all is quiet on the market...

just before the buyers take over the floor...

cracking trip of lemons from the inhore trawler Harvest Reaper...

visiting chefs get to see the fruits of the sea at first point of sale...

and they don't come much better than this excellent weekend's work from the Boy Dylan...

and these shining examples of the King of Fish as a certain Mr Floyd used to call bass...

along with these top turbot from the netter Harvest Reaper...

good to see her back in action but looks like the Algrie didn't quite make a full trip just yet...

looks familiar...

working with the new electronic fish data kit.

Atlantic crossing Tinkerbelle update

These two scanned photos were sent in by Rienk Nadema and show the Tinkerbelle alongside the trawler Excellent which...

makes you wonder if the boat in the film is indeed the Excellent and not the Roseland as quoted in the earlier post?

Saturday morning

Beam trawler derricks redy to go...

the number of passing boats hits a maximum pretty quickly...

didn't take to long for them to go walkanout!

Responsible Fishing Faroese style

Responsible Fisheries (ENG).mov from KOVBOYFILM on Vimeo.

An early start for some

Just a little of the early morning action from Newlyn...

all set to go through the gear on the Sapphire...

and the crabber Intuition gets ready to let go the ends...

Finest Friday for some time

The St Georges made a good job of filling the market floor this morning...

with good run of mink tails in the landing...

also chipping in to a bisy market, the Harvest Reaper proved yet again that there are plenty of cid swimming around out there...

the new gear on the Sapphire II does a good job of picking up the odd scallop or two...

while the Boy Dylan shows who's the best baddest bass boy in town...

with a top shot from the rough grounds...

not a bad collection of the finest turbot and briil..

from the young lady...

hailing from Hayle, Tasty's freshest of fish...

gear up and ready to mend...

unthinkable up until a few years ago - an empty slipway in Newlyn!...

the skater boys and girls are keeping an eye on the new skate facility taking shape on the prom at Wherrytown.

EU ministers conclude marathon negotiating session on fisheries reform

Brussels – EU fisheries ministers have concluded a marathon session of negotiations on the reform of EU legislation on fisheries. The ministers have been meeting since Monday to revise their position on the main points of the reform before going into final negotiations with the European Parliament.

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More than 40 Galician fishing vessels joined Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise on Monday in a protest aimed at Spanish minister Miguel Arias Canete. The banner reads 'Canete, don't sink EU fisheries'

Greenpeace EU fisheries policy director Saskia Richartz said: “Details of the agreement reached early this morning are still patchy and, as so often in politics, the devil is in the detail. What is clear, despite the efforts of the Irish EU presidency, is that there is still a significant gap between the reluctant stance of some countries and the progressive position of the European Parliament. When ministers speak of ‘real and practical solutions’ they often mean that they have settled for a low level of ambition. The parliament will need to decide whether to continue negotiations on the basis of this take-it-or-leave-it proposal from the Council. It must continue to represent the political and public support behind the recovery of our oceans for Europe to be able to safeguard its marine environment and keep its sustainable fishing sector alive.” 

In a vote in February, the Parliament overwhelmingly supported an overhaul of the rules which have led to decades of overfishing and a decline of the European fishing industry [1]. On the other hand, EU ministers – in particular from large fishing nations – have resisted reforms [2].

Unless ministers are willing to compromise, negotiations will be thrown off course and threaten the chances of achieving a reform of fisheries rules before European Parliament elections in mid-2014. The Irish EU presidency, which negotiates with Parliament on behalf of EU ministers, has said it would aim secure a final agreement on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy by June this year.

Greenpeace supports a target for fish stock recovery by 2020, a trimming of the fishing fleet to sustainable levels, financial penalties for countries that fail to implement the rules, and a strict ban on the wasteful practice of discarding unwanted fish.

Note to editors:

[1] According to the European Commission, around two thirds of European fish stocks are currently fished beyond sustainable levels (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52012DC0278:EN:NOT), while one third of European fishing jobs have been lost in the last decade (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SPLIT_SEC:2011:0891%2851%29:FIN:EN:PDF).

[2] Joint NGO statement, Fisheries Council: threat of collapse hangs over fisheries reform:http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/News/2013/threat-of-collapse-hangs-over-fisheries-reform

Story courtesy of Greenpeace