Fishing - the world's most dangerous occupation

Always watch ur back when you're fishing close inshore....

A fisherman was grabbed from his boat and killed by a Bengal tiger as he and his two children were fishing in a creek in India, local media report.

The Odisha Sun Times said the 62-year-old fisherman and his children were in a restricted area of the Sundarbans forest Thursday when the tiger jumped from the shore and snatched the man from the boat. The man's children hit the tiger with sticks to try to get it to release him, but the animal carried him deep into the forest.

The Associated Press identified the father as Sushil Manjhi.

The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in both Bangladesh and India. The mangrove forest is one of the largest reserves for the Bengal tiger.

Courtesy of the Standard Freeholder 

#EatMoreFish irony

SO a man walks up to a coastline, looks out at the sea cages of a pioneering aquaculture project, and gripes to his guide that it doesn’t seem natural. “And we were standing next to a field of wheat.” The irony was not lost on that guide, Peter Horvat of Australia’s Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, retelling the story with some relish. “I pointed out there was a time when land farming didn’t seem that natural, ­either,” he says.

Like it or view it like a Luddite, fish farming is here to stay. Aquaculture is the world’s fastest growing primary industry and there is now more seafood farmed than red meat: at the World Aquaculture conference held earlier this month in Adelaide, it was estimated that for the first time the value of Australian aquaculture has overtaken that of the wild-catch industry.

The four-day conference hosted 2000 delegates from 70 countries. On one level, it was a talkfest for a fledgling industry starting to move beyond dog-paddle; on another, it was a powerful argument for the importance — individual, local and global — of increasing our consumption of seafood. Wild-catch is great, of course: no fish farmer will deny that, though they might point out there ain’t enough to go round. But whether farmed or wild, here are nine reasons to eat more fish.

1. Get With the Strength:

Fish is the world’s most traded protein, and it’s twice the size of the coffee trade. It had an estimated export value of $US136 billion last year, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation. And it will be even more important in future. As World Aquaculture Society president Graham Mair points out, by the end of this century we will need to produce the same amount of food as we produced in the past 10,000 years, so aquaculture will be pivotal to global food security.

2. Health:

Yes, of course you already knew fish is good for you. Just how good? Have a look at the accompanying graph, published earlier this month in a report by the High Level Panel of Experts to the UN Committee on World Food Security: the case for obtaining your essential omega-3 fatty acids from fish just keeps getting stronger (and, yes, the authors say it is indeed correct that the level of iron in beef is lower than in most fish, particularly small freshwater fish). At the same time, in light of increasing evidence of neurodevelopmental benefits from eating fish, the US Food and Drug Administration has revised its dietary recommendations to encourage pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and young children to eat more of it — two to three servings a week — from choices low in mercury.

3. We were meant to eat it:

Remember Sam Neill in those red meat ads? Well, sorry Sam, but it was the Neanderthals who ate lots of red meat. Modern humans became modern by eating lots of oysters, mussels and fish (paleo nuts, take note). As a Scientific American article, “When the Sea Saved Humanity”, reveals, when the number of breeding humans crashed to about 600 in five locations across Africa, it was seafood and root vegetables that helped us survive, not steak.

4. It tastes better:

Of course, we’d all like to eat wild fish that jumped into the boat on a longline shortly before hitting our plates. We’re dreaming, mostly. Fact is, thanks to advances in aquaculture combined with a more focused approach to eating quality, the best farmed fish in Australia is emulating those desirable wild-caught characteristics of flavour and texture. (See breakout.)

5. Dementia prevention:

In Don’t Miss the Bus, a new book drawing on the latest findings in neuroscience from the University of California, South Australian author Rex J. Lipman names a list of a dozen “Gold Medal” food groups vital to maintaining brain health and preventing dementia and Alzheimer’s. The only animal products on the list are fish — specifically salmon, trout and sardines — and dairy foods.

6. Weight loss:

Seafood can help tackle the global obesity crisis, says health writer Martin Bowerman, author of Lean Forever: The Scientific Secrets of Permanent Weight Loss. Speaking at World Aquaculture Adelaide, Bowerman said fish provided more protein for comparably lower calorie intake than other meats and this “calorie efficiency” was key to a high-protein weight-loss diet.

7. The Price of Fish:

Yes, I too have seen King George whiting at up to $84 a kilogram at my local market. But fish doesn’t have to be just a Good Friday luxury. Ask your fishmonger for these delicious, underrated, affordable species, among others: sardines, blue mussels, banana prawns, albacore tuna, pink snapper and eastern school whiting.

8. Sustainability:

While all farmed animals need to be fed, aquaculture represents the most efficient method by which to convert feed to edible protein. And some species, such as the molluscs, oysters and mussels, do not need to be fed at all.

9. It will help you live longer:

In a recent report prepared for Canada’s aquaculture industry, How Higher Seafood Consumption Can Save Lives, the authors quote a study from Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Washington that found older adults with high blood levels of fish-derived fatty acids lived, on average, 2.2 years longer than those with lower levels. “Increasing levels of fish consumption (to the recommended levels) could save about 7000 lives (in Canada) a year,” the report concluded.

See the full story here.

Quay Fair day closes this year's Golowan festival bathed in sunshine.

Penzance Dock has a couple of local beam trawlers undergoing repairs...

while the restored lugger, Happy Return lifts her anchor...

one pirate and his escort...

amongst the varied hats on show during Quay fair...

looks like Cinderella had two too many...

the best view of the proceedings but not for those with weak stomachs or without a head for heights!

A fishy kind of Golowan!

Mount's Bay Academy with its strong Newlyn student contingent...

chose a Jules Verne theme for this year's Mazey Day parade...

during Saturday's Golowan Festival...

plenty of stripey tops on show...

and weird looking fish from the deeps...

helped them create a stunning show...

for parade goers...

enjoying the spectacle...

though there were other beats on show like these huge insects...

with the sun shining in direct contradiction of a lousy forecast the mood was upbeat with the Kakatsitsi Master Drummers from Ghana who had been doing workshops in several primary schools during the previous week.

Seafish call for an immediate re-think of the EU drift net ban

Seafish has today made available a report calling for an immediate re-think over the universal ban on driftnet fishing being proposed by the EU in order to help inform wider debate on the topic. The independently authored report, which explores the economic and environmental impacts of the proposed ban, reaches the conclusion that the proposed ban is "unnecessary, heavy handed, disproportionate and inappropriate for UK waters".

In compiling the report it was found that the proposed ban is almost universally unwelcome in the UK, to the extent that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has authored a Letter of Consultation counselling against a full ban. This has had the effect of generating some unusual alliances across fishing interests in the UK. Fishermen, managers, legislators, campaigners and Non-Governmental Organisations are opposed to this ban as it stands and are calling for exemptions, at the very least, in order to ensure this low-impact, versatile and iconic form of fishing can continue in to the future.

The report goes on to state that by blanket banning a practice that is widely used by small boat fishermen in the UK, it will not only endanger the livelihoods of a significant number of subsistence fishermen across the UK but it may also fail in its environmental objectives given that the problems it seeks to address do not exist within UK waters.

Instead of a blanket ban the report suggests that further regionalised decision making when it comes to Common Fisheries Reform may be a better option in order that we achieve the desired environmental goals. The content will be used to help inform Seafish's submission to the consultation exercise and is available for industry and other stakeholders to independently view ahead of the submission deadline on Monday 30th June 2014.

The full report can be viewed here;

It's #FishyFriday! and the 400th anniversary of Penzance's existence when Golowan Festival hits town this weekend!

The town's streets are all set for the Golowan parades on Saturday

the work continues to make good the coastal path between Wherry Town and Newlyn...

the footings are well over 3m below the level of the sea at high water...

on the market, tip-top turbot from the netter Stelissa...

and hake keep the buyers busy...

with a handful of big tub gurnards form the beamers...

it's that time of year when the scallops are in season...

there are still signs of big cod around...

on a #FishyFriday market full of fish...

including these gorgeous grey inshore mullet...

and big monk tails form the Sapphire II...

still thin on the ground, mackerel are making good money...

as are these shining examples of line caught big bass...

the port's top two inshore boats are both ex-French stern trawlers, Elisabeth Veronique and the Imogen III...

there are plenty of visiting boats like these mini inshore scallopers from Falmouth, the Morel Margh and the Amethyst work four dredges a side...

whereas the huge Jacoba works 17 a side...

the Rebecca and Manx Ranger will all be at sea later looking form scallops...

while the netting fleet are now back in port as the high spring tides make it impossible for them to fish effectively.

Stay Safe! - Carbon Monoxide from gas cookers and heaters on boats can kill!

A leading fishing organisation has called for carbon monoxide (CO) detectors to be fitted to all vessels following the death of two fishermen earlier this year…

The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) has called for carbon monoxide detectors (CO) to be installed on all vessels following the death of two fishermen in Whitby. Mark Arries, 26, and Edward Ide, 21, were found dead onboard the moored vessel, Eschol, in January. The NFFO is now calling for additional measures to be put into place to prevent this happening again.

Chief Executive of the NFFO Barrie Deas said: “We are not normally in the business of adding to the regulatory burden on fishermen, but the minimal cost involved in fitting an alarm and the catastrophic consequences of CO poisoning has persuaded us that an obligation to fit a detector should be included in the new code of practice.”

The NFFO has been working with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to follow recommendations from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB). The MAIB report into the tragedy was released this month, and showed the cause of death was CO poisoning. The report noted that the installation of an alarm could have prevented the deaths.

Installing CO alarms on fishing vessels does fall under Health and Safety Work Regulations, which stipulate that risks should be identified and suitable measures taken to reduce the chance of harm. However, the requirement is non-specific.

The NFFO’s Safety and Training Officer Robert Greenwood said: “This is a tragic incident, which unfortunately isn’t as rare as we’d hope it to be. But, one simple change could have avoided it: the installation of a carbon monoxide alarm. The NFFO fully supports the inclusion of a requirement for fitting carbon monoxide detectors in the new codes of practice and we expect it will save lives, instead of the current situation where individuals are punished for ignorance or negligence when it’s already too late.”

Six other cases since 2000 were also highlighted in the MAIB report, which stated that seven people had died as a result of CO poisoning, the majority of whom were fishermen.

Greenwood added: “With fishing already the most dangerous profession in the UK, there is no excuse for not minimising just one of the risks in such a cheap and simple way.”

Changes to the Fishing Vessel Safety folders, which industry body Seafish uses in training courses, have been added to include information on the danger CO fumes. For more information visit: www.safetyfolder.co.uk