FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE

It’s often said that sailors are married to the sea. For the fishermen of Hönö, that’s not the case. The sea is at the center of their lives but family has always been the bond that holds everything together. Nowhere is that bond stronger than onboard the Västerland.

Hönö is a small island community perched on the edge of the Swedish west coast. It’s part of a rocky archipelago, carved by the unforgiving wind and waves that drive in across the slate-gray North Sea. The harsh natural forces also shape the people who live there. At its height in the 1940s Hönö was all about fishing. Home to over 60 vessels and many thriving boatyards, everyone on the island was involved – men, women, even the children.

Bound by the sea

Life was a shared rhythm: Preparing the boats and the nets, setting sail, fishing for days, returning safely, and unloading the catch before finally reuniting the families and capturing some much-needed rest. Then it would be church on Sunday, a few prayers for protection at sea, and the weekly cycle started again. It’s a unique way of life that’s difficult to understand if you haven’t lived it. There was certainly a strong sense of togetherness in Hönö and within the families who shared every good catch and every punishing loss, some of them tragically fatal. It was into this world that Douglas Sörensson was born in 1934. There was never any doubt that he would head out to sea when he turned 14 and left school. As Douglas says, “My father was a fisherman and his father before that. That’s the way it’s always been.”

A family affair

Douglas is now in his 80s and no longer ventures out on the open sea, but the family business continues with his sons. There’s a lot to be said for sharing a passion as well as the risk and hard work that comes with it. The wives and mothers are equal partners, perhaps even bearing the heaviest burden of taking care of family and work on the island. It’s a bond that is strengthened and renewed every time they are apart and then reunited. When asked what Douglas loves about fishing and the moments he remembers the most, it’s not the sea and the friendship onboard, it’s coming home: “The best thing about fishing is when you’ve been out and caught lots of fish. Then you come home to the wife and kids – that’s absolutely the best feeling.”

Lorient Port de Pêche - a truly European Fish Market

Lorient sees itself as a triuly Euroepan fish market - the port provides a base and a port to land fish for an auction serving all of Europe and beyond for boats from a few meters to some of the biggest pelagic and demersal vessels in the French fleet.

NFFO meets with the Labour Party who promise to work much more closely with the industry.

The Labour Party intends to engage much more closely with the fishing industry than it has done the past. It is doing so in order to equip itself to be an effective and influential official opposition in fisheries. As a baseline for its policies, it needs a sound understanding of the issues confronting all parts of the industry.

Labour and Fishing

This comes at a time when critically important fisheries legislation, associated with the UK’s departure from the EU, passes through Parliament imminently.

As part of this new initiative, a meeting with key fisheries stakeholders, including the NFFO, was convened recently in Westminster by Shadow Environment Secretary Sue Hayman MP, and Fisheries Shadow Holly Lynch MP. The purpose of the meeting was to begin a dialogue between Labour and the fishing sector to ensure that the opposition’s interventions during the passage of the Great Repeal Bill and the Fisheries Bill, are well founded. Given the electoral arithmetic following the general election, Labour in both houses of Parliament could have a direct and important influence on our future as an industry.

It is not unprecedented for opposition parties to become more serious and informed as they get closer to exercising power, and as they move beyond the realm of gesture politics.

At the meeting, there was a frank admission that Parliament’s knowledge about fishing, generally, was not high. The fishing sector organisations, NFFO included, have to take some of the blame for this as our attention for the last thirty years has been, perhaps understandably, firmly focused on Brussels - because that is where the key decisions on fisheries have been made.

The UK’s departure from the EU and therefore the CFP, changes all that. The Westminster Parliament, going forward, is going to be of singular importance in shaping the type of fisheries management regime applied in the UK, beginning with the Repeal Bill and the Fisheries Bill.

Both the official opposition and the fishing industry organisations therefore have a deep interest in developing a quality dialogue that parallels our dialogue with Government.

The meeting ranged across the sector’s aspirations for the future, as the UK becomes an independent coastal state. The establishment of an exclusive 12 mile zone and the rebalancing of quota shares and access arrangement, were thoroughly discussed. What type of trade regime will apply after the UK leaves the EU and the scientific underpinning for policy decisions, along with the enforcement regime were also part of the dialogue. The need for a responsive and adaptive UK management regime, post-Brexit, contrasting with the rigidity of the CFP, was also discussed.

This was an important and very welcome meeting at an important juncture in the history of our industry. A deeper understanding of our diverse and complex sector is a prerequisite for the official opposition to function effectively and the NFFO is committed to building on this promising start to a new relationship.

The meeting was attended by the NFFO, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, the UK Seafood Alliance and a representative of the recreational anglers.

Fundraising #FishyFriday for the FishMish!

It's a special #FishyFriday today - the chance to support the Fishermen's Mission that does such sterling work when needed - be it personal injury or loss or hardship caused by extended periods of bad weather.

Busy market this morning - and there's even three invisible netters landing up the other end of the market...

plenty of inshore trawl fish from nine boats who all had a good touch of flats and groundfish inlcuing a handful of bit turbot...

plenty of Dovers...

though the boxes of monk were full of melt water - in this weather each box is heavily iced at night once graded and weighed - a practice that will no longer be required once the market building has undergone the 1.3 million pound refit starting September `1st this year...

the only beamer to land was the James RH with a monky, megrim...

and plaice...

while the inshore boats waged Dory wars which this week were one by the visiting Nicola Anne...

over young Mr Curtis...

who also landed three times as many megrims as the Elisabeth Veronique managed...

even at 5am the sun streams in at this time of year...

cuttle landings are down to a trickle - great on the BBQ though - matches squid for flavour anyday...

looks like the lobster is ready for the beach - shellfish can be kept alive for hours if cool and covered with a damp cloth - putting them in still, un-aerated water just drowns them...

it is just possible that the new fish market might herald in a digital auction to replace the current digit-al one...

turbot heads 'n tails...

a good shot of the not-so-common sand sole...

a perfect pair of black bream...

a prehistoric looking thornback ray...

the best pollack in the west from @DrecklyFish's  @Cornsih_Lobster, line caught and sporting the RFS badge - fish don't come much better than this...

big John Dory, fish for a feast...

just one of Ajax's  big hake...

the very reddest of big tub gurnards...

someone has cold hands...

sun's up and what a stunning morning...

they sailed at 4am yesterday morning worked right through the day and nigh and have just returned with a good shot of fish and shellfish - not that relief skipper Pete, who would normally be found sitting in comfort aboard his ring netter catching sardines though much of the trip - an aching back for a bonus!

but then when you are steaming back...

 to Newlyn...

 from west of Lands End...

 looking eastwards...

 and are greeted by this sunrise how could you possibly complain?!

The photos, in sequence, as shot by Edwin Hosking, FalFish's head buyer.

Have your say before Brexit - Fishing opportunities for 2018 under the common fisheries policy.

About this consultation

6 July 2017 - 15 September 2017

Policy areas

Maritime affairs and fisheries

Departments

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

Consultation outcome

The contributions received, as well as the outcome of the seminar on the state of the stocks and the economics of fishing fleets that will take place in September, will feed into the European Commission's proposals on fishing opportunities for 2018.

Target group

Allow all European citizens to express an opinion on the way in which levels of fishing effort and quotas are set according to the new common fisheries policy and on the basis of scientific advice.

Objective of the consultation

Allow all European citizens to express an opinion on the way in which levels of fishing effort and quotas are set according to the new common fisheries policy and in relation to scientific advice about sustainable fishing.

View the consultation documents

Consultation document and annex

How to submit your response

Respondents can submit contributions to the functional mailbox: mare-consultation-fishing-opportunities@ec.europa.eu

All replies to the consultation will be made public. You can choose to have your contribution published anonymously.

In the interest of transparency, organisations are invited to provide the public with relevant information about themselves by registering in the transparency register and subscribing to its code of conduct. If an organisation is not registered, its submission is published separately from the registered organisations.

Cutting edge fishing managment technology developed in the middle of nowhere - why can't we do the same?!!

Our Fish from Trip Jennings on Vimeo.

To improve traceability and prevent seafood fraud @MDPIndonesia helps remote and rural fishermen use a simple new app developed with the support of their administrative body - the equivalent of our MMO.

There have been a number of initiatives under development in the UK - notably iCatch developed privately to make shellfish returns - to which, so far, the MMO has seemed reluctant to help move forward and adopt - the app makes the task of making monthly shellfish returns a cinch - a few minutes on your mobile and it is job done - fuss free and efficient.

Let's hope the sight of a fishing industry in a far-fling part of the globe and about as remote as you can get from the ground-breaking hi-tech world we all live in shames the powers-that-be in this country into showing a willingness to work with the industry when it has come up with a blindingly & obviously excellent solution!

Caterpillar Marine - Polarcus Naila - SSV - Operating a 19,685 feet Long Vessel

Bound for Ijmuiden, Sistership Polarcus Adira to the Polarcus Naila spent 24 hours in Falmouth last year while she had a dive team inspect her anodes and hull - the water in Ijmuiden is too dirty to complete such a task...

The boat has two working decks aft

many fishermen from aorund the UK have taken jobs aboard similar vessels where they are valued for their understanding of the severe stresses and strains that working gear..

lower working deck

the acoustic 'guns' have replaced explosives

on this scale can have on handling and deploying gear on this scale - the 'array' as it is known is spread by a giant set of doors similar but much larger than the huge pelagic doors employed by mid-water trawlers fishing for mackerel, herring, scad and blue whiting.

Although the video below is a promo for caterpillar engines it gives a good account of the workings of a modern seismic survey vessel that uses compressed air to fire the acoustic 'guns' that in turn create the survey data...

The data is processed aboard the boat first hand before being sent ashore via satellite...

The main array warps are Dyneema - these are the spares with a life expectancy of 3 years carried on the top deck - at roughly £250,000 a reel it is not diffucult to see why these boats cost aroiund £200,000 a day to hire!

The Polarcus Naila, is almost 20,000 feet long including her arrays. That makes her one long ship as she’s moving across the oceans with zero downtime. And with an operating cost of 200,000 dollars a day, this vessel can’t afford to stop moving.

Caterpillar Marine's "Stories From The Sea": Caterpillar's focus is to make our customers successful. These stories tell you about our customers, their hard work in the marine business and their efforts to achieve their goals whether it is financial or a quest for a dream. The stories are told from the customer’s perspective and rather than being product oriented cases, they simply show the customers in their best light: their lifestyle, the challenges they face and even the dangers they overcome. We want everyone to know it isn’t just ourselves, or even our products, we’re talking about when we display Caterpillars tagline. What we’re really saying is that it is our customers who are “Built for it”.