Life aboard l'Ecume des Jours - a regular visitpor to Newlyn.

Some basic French will let you understand the gist of the narration in this illuminating video of a trip aboard a Breton trawler. This kind of boat is typical of those that stopped over in Newlyn for bad weather years ago...

- not so often these days as the boats tend to stay out and dodge in conditions that were unthinkable in those days!

Using the GoPro to shoot video on a fishing boat - makes sense in poor weather!

Produced in 2013 - video on professional fisherman aboard the 44m deepsea trawler Cape St. George from Boulogne. 

Ardglass trawler dragged backwards 'by submarine'

An Ardglass-based prawn trawler is back at port in Co Down after an incident in which crew claim that their vessel was dragged backwards by a submarine. The 60-foot wooden hulled Karen trawler was about 18 miles off the coast when its nets were snagged shortly after 4pm on Wednesday. The skipper said that they had to release their fishing and lifting gear to free themselves as they hurtled backwards at a speed of ten knots.

Skipper Paul Murphy told Down News: “Without warning, were were stopped and pulled backwards very violently at around ten knots which is the top speed of the vessel. I really thought that was it. It was fortunate that one of the steel ropes holding the net snapped or we would have been pulled under very quickly. www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk...

For all fish fans it's a fog-free #FishyFriday in Newlyn!

An Excellent start to the day...



as the Stelissa sitting low in the water full of fish from a wrecking trip off the south coast of Ireland...

keeping an eye on high water times...

these lucky lemons were jumping out of the sea aboard the Elisabeth Veronique  this week

while the Twilight landed some top quality red mullet...

a film crew were on hand to catch the auction action...

with a shot of big hake from the Padstow registered netter Charisma...

and some early season turbot starting to show as they move across the ground...

the one fish buyers can never get enough of...

eyes down as the price rises...

time for a cuppa waiting for the transport to arrive...

two of the big netters that regularly land their fish to French ports...

ex-French trawlers at rest in the harbour - most of the netters and trawlers in the port originate from across the channel...

one of the inhshore boats, Silvery Sea at rest...

celebrating its continued existence in Penzance...

the Ritz is the biggest art deco building in town...

while the Lloyds bank building complex looks more like one of Christo's creative wraps.

@FishwivesChoirs on Radio4

It is the most dangerous peacetime job a man can do. And for the wives, mothers and daughters who lose their loved ones to the sea, rather than to war, the burden is no less to bear.

In 2008, Jane Dolby's husband Colin went missing when his fishing trawler was caught in a freak storm. The boat was finally located and lifted from the bottom of the sea - but Colin was not found.

Aside from the emotional pain, there are practical complications. The law says that a death certificate cannot be issued without a body - which means no life insurance and no widowed parents' allowance, despite having four young children to bring up.

So in 2012, united by a common bond of understanding the dangers of fishing and a desire to raise money for The Fishermen's Mission who help so many fishing families in hardship, Jane formed the Fishwives' Choir with women from all over the UK who have lost husbands, fathers, brothers and sons to the sea.

Although the choir was only formed to create a one-off charity record, the women received so many performance requests that they decided to carry on in any way they could. Most had not sung since their school days, but we now join Jane, Laura, Leigh and Wendy as they record their debut album.

This is a tale of transforming tragedy and grief into music and hope.

Lead by Jane and over a bed of raucous laughter, The Fishwives' Tale is a heart-warming and at times hilarious tale of women overcoming grief through friendship and sea shanties - proving that, even in the darkest of times, there is still light.

Courtesy of BBC Radio4 - With original music by Josh Winiberg Producer: Hana Walker-Brown A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.

Fact Check: is 80% of UK fish given away to the rest of Europe?

This post appeared on the Conversation's website in response to the claim by UKIP that we are not allowed to catch less than 20% of the fish that swim in our waters.

Nigel Farage raised fishing quotas on the campaign trail in Grimsby.  "As a result of membership of the Common Fisheries Policy, we are now allowed to catch less than 20% of the fish that swim in British waters. The other 80% we have given away to the rest of Europe". Nigel Farage, UKIP leader, on the campaign trail

When fact checking this statement, it is first of all worth pointing out that if the UK was allowed to catch 20% of the fish that swim in British waters and the EU took the rest, then there would be no fish left in the sea.

In attempting to check the facts behind this assertion, one must assume, therefore, that Nigel Farage is referring to the allocations of fishing quotas which are determined by the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

In 2015, the CFP allocated the United Kingdom a total of 612,612 tonnes of quota from more than 100 different fish and shellfish stocks. The total EU quota for these stocks was 2,069,202 tonnes, so the UK was allocated 30% of these fish (and shellfish) quotas.

These figures include various fish which live beyond the boundaries of UK waters, such as Arctic cod and west of Ireland sole. If one considers the 73 different fish stocks which live in UK waters, the total EU quota was 1,920,915 tonnes, of which 585,211 tonnes was allocated to the UK (which also happens to be 30%). Individual quota allocations differ according to stock, as figure one below shows. For example, the UK gets 84% of the North Sea haddock quota, 81% of North Sea monkfish quota and 98% of west of Scotland prawn quota; but only 4% of North Sea sprat quota, 18% of northern hake and 28% of North Sea plaice.

Figure 1. 2015 quota allocations for 73 stocks which live in UK waters, grouped by region (% in brackets refers to the proportion of total quota the UK received in each region). The numbers on each bar refer to the percentage of EU quota allocated to the UK (note West of Scotland Mackerel is off the scale, as EU quota was over 420,000 tonnes).

Although UK waters are extensive, as the map below shows, the fish stocks which live in our waters are by no means confined to them. Some, like mackerel, make extensive migrations and only pass through our waters for a short period. Others are more sedentary, like prawns which stay close to their burrows in muddy habitats.

Figure 2. Map of the British Isles showing UK waters. The UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is in red, EU member states' EEZ in blue and other EEZs in green. The five main regions referred to in Figure 1 are labelled in white. Many species live in different places either at different times of the year or in different phases of their life cycle. In the case of North Sea herring for example, most of the juveniles live in the south east corner around the German bight, whereas the adults tend to congregate around the Shetland Isles prior to spawning at various sites along the British coast. North Sea cod are found throughout the North Sea but prefer spawning along the border between UK and Norwegian waters.

So despite the UK having quite extensive waters, fish stocks do not respect political boundaries, and many are mobile at some stage in their life: these fish are exclusive to neither the UK, the EU, nor the bordering Scandinavian states, but are a shared resource. It would be a major undertaking to establish exactly which proportions of each fish stock would occupy any national waters. These are also likely to change throughout the year, and from year to year. The CFP was designed to manage the mobile fishing fleets that pursue these common, mobile resources.

Although the majority of fish stocks around the UK are managed under the CFP, some important stocks, mainly local shellfish species such as crabs, lobsters and scallops, are also managed under national jurisdictions and bilateral agreements, for example between the EU and states such as Norway and Iceland.

The status of all stocks is determined by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the recognised authority that provides scientific advice to managers. This advice is updated annually and, where possible, includes measures of stock status such as the total biomass of adults and the rate of exploitation the stock has been subjected to by the fishery.

Although the CFP is much derided, various reforms have actually resulted in improvements in the status of many fish stocks in the last decade or so: exploitation rates are down, and in most cases, to levels which are sustainable. The ICES advice also includes recommendations for total allowable catches (TACs) for each stock. Each TAC is then considered by the EU and divided into the quotas which are allocated among the member states according to fixed percentages, under allocation keys known as “relative stability”, which are based on historic fishing patterns.

Verdict

In 2015, the UK was allocated 30% of the EU quota for fishing ground stocks which occur in UK waters. The area of UK waters relative to other member states is certainly high, but the exact proportions depend on the region and which components of member state waters should be considered.

If Farage’s point is that most of the quota for fish stocks that live in UK waters are fished by other member states, then he is correct; but the figure is not 80%, more like 70%. However, these are not “our” fish, the fish that live in UK waters are no more British than they are German, Dutch, Belgian, Irish or Norwegian: they are in fact European.

Review

This is a thorough and well-illustrated response which uses the most reliable and up-to-date information available. By demonstrating that the majority of fish in our waters are in fact European rather than British it highlights a key point – even if Britain left the EU we would still need to negotiate quotas which took this into account. There is no guarantee this would ensure any more of the catch.

It’s also interesting to look at these figures in terms of value rather than just landings. Three of the top five most valuable UK fisheries are for shellfish: prawns, scallops and crabs. For these more sedentary species we already have almost complete control. Although some fish, such as haddock are mainly eaten in the UK, a lot of shellfish from British waters is exported to EU countries. The vast majority of our scallop catch – the UK’s third most valuable fishery – goes to France and Belgium. Likewise Spain and Portugal take a lot of our crabs and prawns. Let’s concentrate on looking after what we are responsible for, more wisely.



The Conversation is fact checking political statements in the lead-up to the May UK general election. Statements are checked by an academic with expertise in the area. A second academic expert reviews an anonymous copy of the article.

Paul G Fernandes MASTS Reader in Fisheries Science, School of Biological Science at University of Aberdeen REVIEWER

Bryce Stewart Lecturer in Marine Ecosystem Management at University of York DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

Paul G Fernandes receives funding from Fisheries Innovation Scotland, the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland and the European Commission. He is affiliated with Fisheries Innovation Scotland and the Fishing Industry Science Alliance. Thanks to Coby Needle from Marine Scotland Science for help in compiling the list of 2015 EU & UK quotas.

Bryce Stewart has previously received funding from Fauna and Flora International, the Community of Arran Seabed Trust, Natural Environment Research Council and Natural England, but this article does not represent the views of the research councils. He is a member of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and on the steering committee of the Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust.

The University of Aberdeen Provides funding as a Founding Partner of The Conversation UK.

abdn.ac.uk

Mid-week fish market at Newlyn as the summer sun begins to show.

First light...

over Mount's Bay...

and this morning we have 100% visibility...

giving these standing stones a surreal look...

as they dominate the skyline on the beach...

a quiet night in...

a slightly slinky monk...

marvellous megs...

and the usual monk tails made up a big part of the fish this morning...

along with some good shots of ray...

and these stunning red mullet from the Harvest Reaper...

at the other end of the fish market five tons of hake was up for grabs form the Britannia V...

and a few big examples of tub gurnard...

and black bream...

name these fishy tails?...

the latest addition to the Rowse fleet is benefiting from  the good drying weather...

while the Brixham beam trawler Carhelmar has made good use of cable ties to protect the new paint on her whaleback...

out @ThroughtheGaps for the Britannia IV...

tools of the fisherman's trade...

aboard the Billy Rowney...

sun's nearly up.