Monday morning and it's not just the market that's busy!

One of the hardiest girls in the port, crabber Harriet Eve rolls her way in through the gaps...

after a day on the pots around the Wolf Rock lighthouse which began yesterday morning in relatively calm conditions and ended in the early hours of this morning in half a gale of wind...

plenty of fish in the market this morning...

including a huge shot of haddock form the under 10m trawler Harvest Reaper - an indication of just how much haddock is on the grounds these days - 

twenty years ago this amount of haddock would have been what a boat of this size and working inshore would have caught in an entire year!...

all the usual suspects were on the market this morning, so plenty of megrims from the beamers...

some of the boats hit on a few bass...

while the punts took some big hauls of mackerel out of the sea over the weekend...

all of which kept the buyers busy as market prices stay high owing to a general shortage of fish around the UK ports...

although if the truth be known prices for hake...

 are not much different to what  they were on a strong market back in the late 1980s!

the Harriet's bigger sistership Intuition also gets her fish ashore after a weekend at sea...

more like a big fat mackerel...

fish are stacked five high at least to save floor space this morning...

while a ;late landing of grey mullet from down Cadgwith cove should make good money for the Christmas restaurant trade...

sure signs there is a strong southerly draft running through the market this morning...

as the huge 38m Belgian beam trawler Stephanie lands her fish...

 which will be overlanded back to Zeebrugge for tomorrow morning's market...

while on the other side of the quay the  Cornishman is landed by Roger who still manages a smile despite the inclement weather this morning...

along the prom there are no sign of skaters on the windswept-spray-sodden Wherrytown Plaza... 

as the prom gets a good soaking.

Belgian beam trawler Stephanie landing in Newlyn.

Two articulated lorries needed to take the fish from the huge Belgian beam trawler Stephanie Z45 this morning - one of the biggest vessels of her kind to land in the port in recent years. The 388 ton 38m boat with her 1300 Hp Wartsila main engine was built in 1996 as the Blue Angel and is based in her home port of Zeebrugge.

There are an excellent set of statistics about the port available here:

Sunday sardines in Newlyn.

Just another Sunday in Newlyn in the run up to Christmas - for some boats like the Karen of Ladram this was their last trip before the break - she is due to sail on the 28th of December for her last trip of the year - at the fish market the Cornish sardine boat  Asthore makes an early morning landing as tomorrow's forecast does not look so good it is  case of make hay while the sun kind of shines...as the netter Joy of Ladram makes her way up the harbour SAR Rescue 193 flies overhead to join the Penlee lifeboat about to go our on exercise.

Sunday morning sardines!

Fifteen tons of the finest Cornish sardines aboard the Asthore waiting to go ashore...

as the netter Joy of Ladram leaves the fish market berth...

and makes her way to the gaps...

as #771NAS Rescue 193 passes overhead...

the Mayflower heads back to a berth...

so the net can be over-ended...

visiting Belgian beam trawler...

Marbi mends her gear...

and takes on boxes after landing, like many Dutch and Belgian boats her skipper and crew do not fish on Sundays......

one of Stevenson's beam trawlers has work to do on her port side gear...

it's all smiles aboard the Karen of Ladram as yet more gear comes ashore... 

as skipper Sid directs the traffic down the quay...

and the fish goes aboard the transport...

the crew make light of their work...

 as the Ivan Ellen heads out for a pre-Christmas Sunday exercise...

the Asthore begins to land her trip...

of sardines...

with tons of ice at the ready...

to keep the fish in tip-top condition...

in the insulated tubs...

a steady hand...

and timing too...

make sure the fish end up in the tubs...

all set for the transport to take them away.

Newlyn Harbour Lights switch on and Fireworks 2015!

Tolcarne School Choir, Pendeen Silver Band and Father Christmas help make this year's spectacular switch on and fireworks display even more spectacular than ever! A woman visitor from Sydney, Australia was over heard to say that the firework display over the harbour was better than New Year in Sydney Harbour! - Kudos and a big thank you to all those who volunteer their time and efforts into making it happen!

As a working port of course the celebrations took place while a number of boats came in to land their fish...

like Jeremy's Nazarene from Porthleven...

Roger's Imogen III...

and one of the sardine boats full to the gunnels with fish...

as the star of the show, Santa arrived on the lifeboat to hand out some pressies to the waiting youngsters... 

then all hands waited expectantly...

as Penzance Town mayor handed over a donation for £1500 towards the cost of the lights to an extremely grateful Harbour Lights Marcia...

then it was time for Santa to count down to the big switch on...

and the show to begin...

a Merry Christmas to one and all...

meanwhile over on the slip under the sparks...

skipper and crew supervise form a safe distance as the paint goes on the hull of the Elisabeth Veronique...

many of the shops have done a great job of seasoning their windows...

and some homes too!

Light-minded tech savvy Arduino person needed for pathfinder light-driven fishing project!

Here's a highly innovative project that might just provide a solution or at least part solution to seeing a way through the minefield that is the LO or discards ban.

Based in London SafetyNetTech's primary goal is to design and build devices to increase the selectivity of commercial fishing practices, making the industry more sustainable. Light, of interest to the fishing gear technology community since the 1970s, can be used as a tool to achieve this. Technologies such as LEDs and cheap manufacturing of hardware and electronics are opening up new commercial opportunities for the wider application of these selectivity devices. SafetyNet Technologies has been building sophisticated LED systems to enable experimentation into how light can segregate between ages and species of fish, and is applying that knowledge to create simple sets of lights to help fishermen catch the right fish. We work across the sector with fishermen, scientists, suppliers and regulators to create user-centred solutions to issues currently faced by the industry.

We strongly believe that the solutions to humanity’s greatest challenges must be backed by sustainable business cases in order to achieve real impact. To this end, all @SafetyNet products aim to satisfy each element of the value chain of which they are a part.

The guys are currently looking for another hand to join the team. Here's the person spec for an amazing opportunity to get involved with the project:

SafetyNet Technologies takes a user-centred design approach to building electro-mechanical solutions to overfishing, backed by sound business models, that help make the commercial fishing industry smarter and less wasteful. Based in London Bridge, we are a team of 4 design engineers who have built strong links with the international commercial fishing industry, scientific community and regulatory bodies. There are solutions to the global overfishing problem
and we aim to accelerate their discovery to enable maximum positive impact.

Overview
We’re searching for someone to work on a project involving controllable lights. The appropriate person will be comfortable:

● working fairly rapidly (due to the deadline)
● Building a basic UI (most likely with Processing or similar)
● Designing and assembling electronic components (most likely with Arduino as a base, or something similar)
● Specifying and sourcing electronic components
● Specifying and sourcing PCBs (where off-the-shelf is unavailable)
● Building something for use in the marine environment (don’t worry, we can help with that - we’re most
interested in your electronics skills)
● Linking all these things together to create a usable device at the end of it all!

The project is due to be delivered in early December 2015. You’ll be working out of Sustainable Bridges in London Bridge, the place that SafetyNet Technologies calls home. This project would be suitable for someone who wanted to work part-time, and also for people who prefer remote working (with regular check-ins at Sustainable Bridges).

Please send a CV and Cover Letter expressing your interest in the role to enquiries@sntech.co.uk