First online fish auction of 2021 in Newlyn.

The first 'clock' auction for 2021 gets underway with auctioneers Ryan and Ian at the helm...

and it's good to see a bumper mix of quality fish that has given Newlyn its reputation for providing the most divers range of fish on a regular basis to UK consumers like lemon sole...

red mullet...

and the very best day boat caught from inshore trawlers like the Still Waters...

and the Immy...

along with whiting...

and even the odd cod...

the new regime involves printed tallies that ID the box of fish bought by the buyers from their terminals...

that are dropped on each box...

identified by weight...

and vessel name...

which means the practice of using individual tallies...

has not changed...

since the introduction of...

the online auction...

each box also indicates the quality and provenance of the fish....

and a quality grade - though there don't seem to be any grades for gill and trammel net or inshore trawl fish as yet ...

I'm sure the Spirited Lady would rather not have the A+ beam trawl classification given the short length of time at sea and overall quality of its fish given that the same quality mark would include a 40m beam trawler towing 10m beam trawls and spending 8 days at sea...

with some fine(ish) weather over the weekend landings of mackerel came thick and fast ...

from the handliners both in Mounts Bay...

and St Ives...

at this time of year the inshore trawlers always seem to pick up good shots of ray...

and the odd cod...

with the Spirited Lady...

Still Waters...

and the Immy getting in on the act...

well, we may not be in the Mediterranean but this big fella bears the name...

here's looking at you...

said the gurnard to the conger...

the Algrie...

and the Trevessa IV picked up a few more cod, not a common fish in south western waters at this time of ear and certainly nowhere near in the kind of quantities to keep even a few of the local chippies supplied with the UK's favourite Friday night fish supper...

so it would be good to see more of them put ray wings on their menus...

also not too common at this time of year, John Dory, very much a summer fish...

while these little chaps just seem to appear anywhere you put down a trawl...

a trio of fine brill...

catch the eye of retired sardine skipper Pete 'bigger the balls' Buckland, now with his feet firmly ashore...

haddock will be one of the key fish to feature in any forthcoming TAC quota negotiations between the Uk and the EU...

now that buying takes place inline the market floor is now devoid of buyers and porters...

where to clean your boots...

the main auction hall was empty this morning...

Falmouth registered Ocean Pride alongside the market...

looks like an our or two's worth of mending for the boys on the sardiner Vesta...

two...

and two more of Rowse's crabbers take a break...

Golden Harvest's sardine net in its entirety on the quayside.

 

Meanwhile, some good fisher, sorry, fishing news!

'This is where I need to be': the UK women defying fishing stereotypes.

Not-for-profit Women in Fisheries aims to get more women involved in male-dominated industry.

Amy Rose, fishing in Newlyn Amy Rose, fishing in Newlyn, said her girlfriends were excited about her job.

Superstition among fishing crews has traditionally said that women on ships are bad luck – and it is among many of the reasons women in the fishing industry are in short supply. Now though, they are being urged to join Britain’s fishing fleet by the first UK company to emerge that is actively encouraging women to fish.

British Women in Fisheries was set up last month to get more women involved as fleet managers, skippers, commercial fishers, fishmongers, processors or gutters, among other areas.

It comes after the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme sparked a row for using the term “fisherpeople’” in a news report. Europe editor Katya Adler’s gender-neutral description during a package on Brexit talks caused some listeners to argue that women only fill a fraction of the jobs, pointing to a study finding only 2.7% are female.

Fishing, and control of who fishes in UK waters, became a central part of the Brexit negotiations and some industry leaders claim the deal struck with Brussels will do long-term damage to their prospects.

Laney Black, 48, one of the co-founders of UK Women in Fisheries who works on a trawler, says she would love to see more women involved. Black trawls for langoustines and works 18-hour shifts most days.

“Our days are dependent on the tide and the moon and the weather but on an average day we would be leaving harbour around teatime, so 4 or 5pm, and by the time we return to land with langoustines cleaned up it is around an 18-hour shift. It’s mostly a night shift but can vary – sometimes a day shift dependent on tides,” she said.

The aim of their new not-for-profit company is to bring women who fish together. “We are drawing the plans for it at the moment but the main goal is to mentor and support, and give training for women in all sectors of the fishing industry,” she said.

The inspiration behind the project came to Black after she was involved in a government-funded study a year ago that meant she met more women who work on boats. “I found it inspiring to meet women who had up until now a very solitary career,” she said.

Black added it was hard to tell how many women fish but she did not know many other female trawlers. She said women “don’t realise it is something they can or want to do”.

“It’s very male-dominated,” she said. “The old-fashioned views about women on boats is an issue. At careers day [in school] you never have anyone coming up telling you that you can work in fishing … It still seems to be a taboo but it does seem to be changing and we are trying to combat that kind of thinking.”

Another woman who has been promoting fishing through her Instagram is Ashley Mullenter, 33, who has been commercially fishing in Norfolk for over two years. “About 11 years ago I booked an angling trip and I went out and had a lightbulb moment and thought ‘this is where I need to be’. The skipper could not get rid of me after that till eventually he said just turn up when you want and jump on and have a go and asked me to work on a commercial boat, gutting fish.”

Ashley Mullenter: ‘I had a lightbulb moment and thought this is where I need to be.’ Her work is very physical. “It’s a long day,” she said, which means it can be a hard industry for mothers. “If you’re at sea 12-16 hours that will make it hard [for women with children]. You need a good support network to help you.”

“It is a very male-dominated industry and a lot of women may be intimidated by that but that may be their own preconceptions. Everyone I have met in the industry – mostly men – are really supportive.”

Women who fish are “few and far between”, she said, but she would like to see more getting involved.

Amy Isobel Rose, 31, works in Newlyn, a fishing town in south-west Cornwall and said she had worked at sea on private yachts since she was 21. “I came back to Penzance last year with the intention of having a year off at home then going back to yachting at the start of this year, which of course was ruined by Covid.”

“Having grown up in Penzance, I went to school with most of the fishermen or their kids, so it was just a case of convincing one to take me to sea. Eventually, Danny, my current skipper, agreed to … He thought I just wanted to go for a jolly, but as soon as I let the lines go from the quay he said he knew he could take me seriously and I’ve been fishing with him since.”

Her duties involve line handling, net repairs, gear maintenance and wash-downs. “Physically I’m finding it hard at the moment, but that’s more because I’ve done zero exercise for the past couple of years, whereas these guys have been fishing for years and are used to the physical demands,” she said.

She added that fishing does not always appeal to women as it can be a very physically demanding, smelly, dirty job with erratic and unsociable hours.

“None of my girlfriends has expressed an interest for giving it a go, but they’re all stoked on me being out here.”

Full story courtesy of Sarah Marsh @sloumarsh at the Guardian Newspaper.

French fishermen working in UK waters.

Laurent's catch is brought ashore Image: 

 

French fishermen have spoken of their relief after a Brexit deal was struck  French fishermen working in UK waters before receiving official licences One captain says he has decided to keep fishing, regardless of official licensing requirements, as his livelihood depends on it.

On the quayside in Boulogne-sur-Mer, a small crowd is gathering. As they watch, a boat ties up and starts to unload its haul. In this fishing town, they know the significance of this. The tradition is that nobody goes to sea on New Year's Day, so this is the first catch of 2021 - crabs, lobsters, sea snails and some assorted other fish.

'These are Mr Johnson's crabs,' the captain says. 

A father pushes his child to the front to watch; some are taking photos.

We went out with the crew of this boat during the summer, watching as they entered British waters to access crab and lobster pots and talking to the captain, Laurent, about his views on Brexit.

Back then, he was calm, expecting a deal, but in the months that followed he became more and more worried. A few weeks ago, when we last spoke to the skipper, he was increasingly anxious that Brexit was about to see his boat banned from British waters.

Full story courtesy of Adam Parsons - Business correspondent Europe correspondent @adamparsons 

The MMO has published full documentation of all Uk and EU fishing vessels that are eligible to fish in UK waters.

The boat in story above is the 11.92m Laurent Geoffrey from Boulogne, one of 632 French vessels on the new register. A full set of documents has been published here.

EU fishing vessel access to the UK waters as of 1 January 2021

'Flag of convenience' trawler in Newlyn.

Guidance United Kingdom Single Issuing Authority (UKSIA) The UKSIA manages UK domestic fishing vessel access to non-UK waters and foreign vessel access to UK waters.

UK Vessels

Foreign vessels Contact the SIA Approved UK Vessels Approved EU Vessels Devolved Administrations Print this page

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is acting as the UK Single Issuing Authority (SIA) to issue fishing vessel licences on behalf of the UK sea fish licensing authorities of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to manage UK fishing vessel access to non-UK waters, and foreign vessel access to UK waters. This will not affect the administration of your base domestic licence.

The UK is an independent coastal state and vessels from the EU and other coastal states wishing to access UK waters will require a fishing vessel licence issued by the SIA.

In addition to their UK licence, UK vessels will require an external waters licence to fish in the waters of the EU. Access to the waters of other coastal states including Norway and the Faroe Islands, and in waters under the auspices of regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) remain subject to negotiations.

The UK fisheries authorities (Marine Scotland, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland, Welsh Government and the Marine Management Organisation) remain responsible for the administration and management of UK vessel licensing within the UK EEZ.

UK Vessels 

From 1 January 2021 you will need an external waters licence to fish outside of the UK EEZ or ‘British Fishery Limits’, which can be found here.

EU waters 

Initially, the SIA will issue licences for eligible UK and EU vessels to fish in each other’s respective 12 – 200 nautical mile zones. These are being processed and will be issued electronically where an email address has been provided, otherwise these will be issued by post. The list of UK vessels has been published below with a copy of the licence conditions.

If your vessel is on the list but you have not received a licence please contact the SIA via the email address below.

If your vessel is not on this list and you wish to apply for an external waters licence, please complete the application form and submit to the SIA via the email address below.

SIA Application to fish in Third Country Waters 

Licensing of UK vessels and EU vessels to fish in each other’s 6 – 12 nautical mile zones will be issued later, once the eligibility criteria have been confirmed.

Norway and Faroe Islands waters Access to waters of Norway and the Faroe Islands waters remain subject to negotiations. UK vessels identified as having previously operated in Norwegian and Faroese waters have been contacted directly by SIA to verify their details. If you have not heard from SIA and think you should have, please email UKSIA@marinemanagement.org.uk with your vessel name, RSS Number, PLN, IMO Number and any further information you wish to provide.

General provisions for UK vessels Until you are issued a valid licence for the waters in which you intend to operate you must not fish and all fishing gear must be lashed and stowed if transiting.

If you have not notified your Sea Fish Licensing Authority or the SIA of a valid email address, or your email address has changed, you must send this to UKSIA@marinemanagement.org.uk along with your vessel name, RSS number and PLN and we will update our records. In future, licences will only be issued by email.

Vessels 12 metres and over in length must have an International Maritime Organization (IMO) number and permanently mark this in a visible place either on the ship’s hull or superstructure. If you do not already have a IMO number you can apply for free at http://imonumbers.ihs.com. You must notify the UK SIA of your IMO number by emailing it to UKSIA@marinemanagement.org.uk along with your vessel name, RSS number and PLN and we will update our records accordingly.

Foreign vessels 

From 1 January 2021 all foreign vessels must have a valid foreign vessel licence issued by the UK SIA to fish in the UK EEZ or ‘British Fishery Limits’, which can be found below. 

EU Vessels 

The UK has issued a temporary foreign vessel licence for access to the UK’s EEZ (12 – 200 nautical mile limit). Vessels on the UK’s EU Vessel list are licensed to fish in accordance with the UK’s Foreign Vessel Licence.

General Provisions for all Foreign vessels Until you are issued a valid licence for fishing in the UK EEZ you must not fish and all fishing gear must be lashed and stowed if transiting. Enquiries regarding the licensing process for UK waters must be directed to your flag state fisheries authority.

Contact the SIA You can reach the SIA via telephone on 0208 026 5062 or email UKSIA@marinemanagement.org.uk with your name, telephone number, vessel name and PLN number and a brief outline of your enquiry and a member of the team will call you back as soon as possible.

Approved UK Vessels 

Below is a list of UK vessels for which external waters licences have been approved. If your vessel does not appear on this list, or you wish to apply for an external waters licence, please contact the SIA using the details above.

UK vessel list for EU waters 

UK vessel - external waters 

Approved EU Vessels 

Below is a list of EU vessels for which a temporary foreign vessel licence has been issued in respect of the UK’s EEZ (12-200nm limit) and a copy of the Foreign vessel licence and conditions.

EU vessel list for UK waters 

UK Temporary Foreign Vessel Licence (EU vessels) 20201231 

Published 31 December 2020 Last updated 2 January 2021 — see all updates From: Marine Management Organisation Contents

NUTFA TELEPHONE HELPLINE FOR FISHERMEN

 

Telephone Helpline For Fishermen

Telephone helpline opening hours - Week beginning 4th January 2021

• Monday 4th January 2021: 9.30am to 1.30pm
• Tuesday 5th January 2021: 9.30am to 1.30pm
• Wednesday 6th January: 9.30am to 1.30pm
• Thursday 7th January: 1.30pm to 4.30pm
• Friday 8th January: 1.30pm to 4.30pm

We have received a large volume of calls for debt advice, welfare support, housing problems and charity referral over the Christmas period and have decided to open a dedicated line during set hours to enable fishermen and their family to contact us direct during these difficult and uncertain times within the fishing industry at the moment. Please do not hesitate to call or drop us an email. We are stronger together as a fishing industry and here to help where we can.

The hours when you are able to contact us immediately direct will change week to week, depending on our availability via meetings and other fisheries commitments. If you are unsure as to whether it is something we can assist with, please contact us to enquire - we can always signpost on where another advisory service is better suited.

When telephone helpline closed, please email to sarah@nutfa.co.uk or leave a message on 07402 089170 and either Sarah or Jerry will revert to you.

Thank you.

NUTFA team