#eatmorefish !

Phil Lockley shot this short footage to show how monofilament nets look underwater - as you can see it doesn't look much, which is how the fish don't get to see it either! These are very similar to the nest used by netter like the Ajax fishing for hake and white fish.

Just the same as these sole nets, on nets rigged to fish for hake the footrope has lead embedded in the lay of the net, while the head rope, in addition, has small floats at regular intervals. Either end of the net (between 5 and 20,000 feet long) is held on the sea bed with steel anchors weighing around 130lbs.

#fishyFriday is here again! #eatmorefish !

Despite the inclement weather, three of the port's bigger boats toughed out the week to make good landings this morning...

stacked three or four high, boxes of...

monk...

more monk...

and more monk...

and even more monk...

Dover soles...

and more megs filled the floor along with...

some flying bass...

glowing tub gurnards...

enough to keep Ian busy shifting boxes...

with a full moon in the sky the net boats have finished their landings for the this tide...

some sort of sign from the cuttlefish artist...

a cross to bear...

the beast that is the Sapphire III...

and a visiting cat typical of the kind used to service wind-farms from Maritimecraft.

Bugaled Breizh - 10 years on

  10 ans ! 

   

Yves, Georges, Pascal, Patrick, Eric

noyés ou disparus le 15 janvier 2004

ON NE VOUS OUBLIE PAS !

le 18 janvier 2014 à Loctudy (29), 

nous vous invitons à la commémoration

15 h      au Monument des Péris en mer (cimetière de Loctudy)

15 h 30  rassemblement Place de la Mairie, cortège vers le port avec la maquette du Bugaled Breizh

16 h      embarquement pour les familles et la Presse, jeter de fleurs en mer

The film 'Silent Killer' was shown in Newlyn last year.

20 h 30  Projection-débat du film "the silent killer" au LAC (Loctudy Art et Culture) présentation et dédicace du livre "Bugaled Breizh, l'enquête torpillée" si vous ne pouvez venir, parlez-en autour de vous,

certains de vos parents ou amis pourront peut-être se déplacer.

Merci pour votre soutien

SOS BUGALED BREIZH

    Association

www.bugaledbreizh.org

and for those not so fluent in the language of our Celtic cousins......

10 years! 

   

Yves Georges Pascal, Patrick, Eric 

drowned or disappeared January 15, 2004 

ON DO NOT FORGET! 

January 18, 2014 Loctudy (29) 

we invite you to the celebration 

15 pm at Monument Peris sea (cemetery Loctudy) 

15 h 30 Town Hall Square rally, procession to the port with the model of Bugaled Breizh 

16 h boarding for families and the Press, throw flowers in the sea 

20 h 30 Projection discussion of the film "the silent killer" in LAC (Loctudy Art and Culture) presentation and book signing "Bugaled Breizh, torpedoed the investigation" 

If you can not come, talk about you, some of your relatives or friends may be able to move.

Thank you for your support

SOS Bugaled BREIZH Association

www.bugaledbreizh.org

The loss of the Bugaled Breizh - ten years on.

Report. Short clip from a French news channel about the 10th anniversary of the sinking of a Breton trawler "Bugaled Breizh", off the Channel. 

Comment on factual images and graphics, alternating with interviews Sylvain Le Berre, maritime prefecture of Brest, Simon Rabett, Falmouth Coastguard and Andrew MUNSON, director of the port of Newlyn.

Wednesday's market is full of fish

The Arrivals Board shows there were three beamers and an inshore trawler with fish on the market this morning, for some reason, the net boats seldom if ever get recorded on the board...

conjuring up some cracking monk tails...

cod keeping an eye on the auction in progress...

Don's biggest bass for a while on the Filadelfia...

there are still some squid to be had by the inshore men,,,

and they don't get more spotty than these cracking examples of the species...

back in the black beasts after the xmas break, though the catches ae a shadow of what they were two winter's ago...

shine on you crazy pollacks...

and this time of year is spawning time so the big white fish give up plenty of roe...

one lonesome black bream @1NewlynFish bound...

slowly seeps the sepia...

Newlyn's Deadlist Catchers, team Rowse the local crabbing fleet are all tied up today...

while the beaming fleet take fuel ready for their next salty sortie.

Applications are invited for new trials of catch quota schemes in the Western Waters run by Marine Management Organisation (MMO) in 2014.

Applications are invited for new trials of catch quota schemes in the North Sea and Western Waters run by Marine Management Organisation (MMO) in 2014.

The schemes follow on from those run in England since 2010 and 2011 and will investigate and provide further evidence that will inform policy and implementation of the landing obligation to be phased in from 2015 under a reformed Common Fisheries Policy.

A priority for 2014 trials will be to document and monitor total catches across a range of species likely to be subject to a landing obligation in 2016. Catch quotas have demonstrated their effectiveness at reducing discards and encouraging more selective fishing behaviour. However, more needs to be done to better understand the implications of mixed species fisheries, particularly where one or more species appears to act as a 'choke', potentially calling an early halt to a fishery through quota exhaustion before the target species quota has been caught.

Successful vessels will be allocated additional quota for the relevant species subject to the outcome of negotiations at December Council and between the EU and Norway. An exemption from effort or additional kilowatt days will also be considered for applicants operating in the North Sea.

Remote electronic monitoring (REM) equipment, including CCTV, will be used to monitor fishing operations and audit catch documentation. Vessels may occasionally be required to carry MMO observers.

Vessel owners who expect to fish in the North Sea or Western Waters from 1 January to 31 December 2014 can apply. Only English-registered vessels that are members of a producer organisation are eligible.

Applicants are invited to bid for additional quota for the stocks they are interested in. Detailed information on the stocks that may be available is contained in the application pack, which contains details of the project, contract and terms and conditions. Available stocks will be subject to the outcome of December Council but applications may be withdrawn if terms are not agreeable.

The project is expected to start in early February 2014 and will end on 31 December 2014.

To apply vessel owners should read the schemes' terms and conditions and duty of care code (PDF 71 KB) complete an application form that is part of each application pack.

North Sea application information pack (PDF 206 KB) Western Waters application information pack (PDF 168 KB) Alternatively, an application form or pack is available:

Catch Quota Team – North Sea MMO Marine Area Office Fish Quay Sutton Harbour Plymouth PL4 OLH

Applicants will be informed of the results of their application as soon as possible.

Fogle's fun "I thought I knew oceans and boats, but a fishing trawler in a January North Sea is another thing" #eatmorefish

Back in december last year explorer and adventurer Ben Fogle put himself through the fisherman's mandatory sea survival course. 

Why?

Read on:

I put my legs into the huge orange suit and pulled it over my head. I stabbed at my life jacket with my enormous neoprene-gloved hands. Slowly I stepped to the water’s edge and with one hand across my chest and the other held across my face, I plunged into the deep water. I soon shot to the surface before making my way to the upturned life raft. I grabbed at one of the handles and pulled as hard as I could. The rubber raft began to list before righting itself on top of me.

By now I had been joined by eight other orange-suited folk, all clutching at the side of the raft. I made my way to the front before hoicking myself inside. Like a floundering seal, I landed on the soft floor and began hauling my colleagues aboard. Soon we were all aboard the relatively tiny raft.

We were not on some ocean, but in the Dolphin Pool in Poole harbour, Dorset, where the water was a comparatively balmy 24C (75F), as opposed to the average of 10C (50F) that we have around UK waters. I was doing a sea survival course, now a prerequisite of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency for anyone about to spend time working at sea.

Joining me on the course was an extraordinary collection of people about to pursue careers at sea. There were former soldiers off to earn a living as private security guards on vessels in the lucrative anti-piracy trade, there were offshore wind-turbine engineers, cruise ship workers, yacht crews, ferry operators and me.

The reason for my involvement is that in the New Year, while I am still digesting my turkey, I will be going up to the most northern part of Scotland to head out with the brave souls of arguably one of the most dangerous trades in UK waters: the trawlermen. I will live, work and sleep with a crew in the stormy North Atlantic in January. Even the hardened teachers and trainers on my course went green at the mere thought of it.

But before I could don my sou’wester, I had to pass the course. I learnt about flares, emergency beacons and how to survive a worst-case scenario. We were shown cheery footage of fishing trawlers sinking amid mighty oceans. Something tells me the waters off Peterhead won’t be so forgiving, or warm, as the Poole leisure centre.

And on that note, please think of all those working while we are celebrating with our families over this Christmas period 

Courtesy of the trawlerphotos.co.uk web site

Now come forward a few weeks and with some of the worst winter weather in years Ben finds himself aboard the Rosebloom INS353, one of Scotland's whitefish trawlers.

Like a tiny cork on a vast ocean we are thrown around. The ship yawns and yaws with each enormous wave that pounds the side of the boat, sending a cloud of spume and spray high into the air. The sky is grey with streaks of white cloud. The sun sends a glowing orange beam low over the water, like a faraway searchlight.

Ben Fogle on the quayside in front of his home for the next 10 days.

"I am aboard a fishing trawler in the North Sea. I thought I knew oceans and boats, but a fishing trawler in a January North Sea is another thing. The ship groans and vibrates as we bounce our way north towards Fair Isle, our hunting grounds for the next week. The crew are hardened Scottish seafarers with years of experience under their belts. And then there is me, the new boat, a “green horn” as the Americans would call me. My gear is shiny new and it appears I lost my sea legs long ago. I clutch onto anything that looks safe to hold me in place as we dip and dive like a child’s toy. The ocean is a patchwork of whitecaps and vertiginous waves. Seagulls wheel overhead in the hope of a scrap. It’s a hauntingly beautiful scene, but being part of it is, quite frankly, horrific.

They say the work of an offshore trawlerman is one of the hardest and most dangerous in the British Isles, and after just a few days aboard I can already see why. I am homesick and long for dry land. Maybe time has softened me or perhaps this really is a job for the few hardy souls for whom fishing is in their blood. Many of the crew first went to sea when they were just 15.

It is hoped that the fortunes of Scottish trawlermen will change. After three years, MEPs have signed off on reforms to the Common Fisheries Policy. Trawlermen have been promised grants for new nets and equipment to catch non-endangered fish.

My stomach is lurching and my head spinning. I have a headache and there is no rest. Haul, gut, tea, haul, gut, tea. This is my life and will be my life for the next week, me and the seven crew aboard our tiny trawler, pounded by the worst January storms in years." 

Ben Fogle