Through the Gaps! - Newlyn Fishing News Cornwall UK fish commercial fishing fish cooking and art

Wednesday 2 March 2016

Wild and windy Wednesday in Newlyn.

Three beam trawlers and an inshore trawler for this morning's market...

landing some delightful John Dory...

mellifluous megrims...

while the other end of the market is dominated MSC hake...

lovley ling...

and perfect pollack...

outside on the fish quay the beam trawler Sapphire III...

has just taken fuel...

so her ends get let go...

as she is about to head back to a berth...

further down the quay...

leaving what might well be her last landing of cuttles as the black gold season draws to a close...

display or pay they say...

yet another Belgian visitor, 015 Zilvermeeuw...

one of the more traditional beamers to visit...

astern of her is a stern view of the Crystal Sea II, her fishing career in Newlyn now over as she is being readied to be sold away from the port - her replacement will arrive next month - the port's biggest investment in a trawler since the ill-fated Dumnonia in 1988...

that is one, wet looking sun this morning - expect heavy, cold, blustery, Northerly showers...

big boats need big gear and investment - here a new net transporter rig is being used to take off tiers of nets from the Karen of Ladram for repair...

right under the ice works...

taking in some of his domain...

the @FishMish man on his morning walkabout...

your transport awaits...

how the nets come off the boat...

and how the fish come off the Britannia V...

and the Ajax...

skipper Alan and Mr Net man Fred share a little blarney...

on the Ajax.

Tuesday 1 March 2016

Wishing our Celtic cousins a happy St David's Day!

The port's resident bunch of daffs has flowered just in time to wish the taff contingent a happy #StDavids day.

Livestreaming a conference on sea lice!

Not the best topic for a breakfast conversation - but sea lice are the plague of net fishermen working west of the Scillys! Listen live to the Norwegian Centre of Expertise on fishing in action.

The dangers of 'coming fast' on an obstruction when trawling.

Every day, somewhere out at sea the chances are a trawler or beam trawler will find itself in the same position as the scalloper Guiding Light III - her scallop dredges hitched tight or 'come fast' on an obstruction on the seabed.

Even in the relatively calm conditions - a mile off the beach in Torbay - there is a danger that the boat can be capsized with all the weight bearing on one side of the boat. While the skipper and crew attempt to free the starboard side gear from the obstruction - in this instance possibly a heavy wire cable - the boat is held over, the angle increasing - and the danger of capsize - every time the skipper puts the winch in gear and heaves the dredges higher to allow more of the obstruction to be cut away by oxyacetylene torch.

When the weight is finally cut away (7:40) the boat immediately rights herself - only for more of the obstruction still entangled and needing to be cut away before the boat can head safely back to harbour.

At that time the shipping forecast for Dover, Wight, Portland and Plymouth was southwesterly gale force 8 increasing severe gale force 9. A small boat like the Guiding Light III attempting this manoeuvre in Mount's Bay in the same forecast would have had the danger magnified hugely as there would have been a considerable ground sea (swell) causing the boat to rise and fall up to 2 metres or more. In such conditions, the skipper would have to balance the very unpredictable rise and fall caused by the swell with the amount he could haul up the gear - the tactic is to use the swell to help release the gear if possible.

The outcome to this kind of incident at best results in retrieving the gear with little or no damage - just a lot of consternation and lost fishing time, at worst it results in the loss of the boat and crew - as was likely in the case of the loss of the Margaretha Maria off the Lizard.

After 18 hours working to free the trawl, missing was the entire trawl net, one bridle and one trawl door.

In deeper water, twenty miles off the shore things can take much longer as it is only safe to haul the gear up tight to the boat during slack water (either high or low tide) as the tide pushes the boat at up to 3 knots making it impossible to heave directly over the top of the obstruction. To free the obstruction took four hours in the video - this photo was all that was left of the trawl aboard the Newlyn trawler Keriolet when she battled for 18 hours with the trawl in a wreck off Pendeen.

Video courtesy of TelsWeb Brixham.

Monday 29 February 2016

Jack Frost pays Newlyn a visit!

Cold, clear skies...

and cold enough to freeze even the nether regions of a brass Tom this morning...

as Jack Frost spread his love around the harbour, a rare enough sight in this part of the world...

inside the chilly market there were plenty if fish to keep the suppliers happy...

including a big shot of red mullet from the channel...

and a load of lemons for the Lisa...

in a trip packed head to tail ...

with Dovers...

visitors must comply with the new market regulation - so make sure you get proper protective workwear - and don't look like you have been sponsored by PG Tips...