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Monday 23 January 2023

Much fish on Monday morning's market in Newlyn.

With its southerly aspect, Newlyn and Mounts Bay get to enjoy some superb sunrises and this morning was no exception...



meanwhile, inside the fish market black is the predominant colour of things...



good to see plenty of ice on these mackerel - fish, especially oily fish like mackerel have their shelf-life extended greatly when ice well...



stack 'em high...



handy sized monk tails...



and a good sized John Dory from the Dawn Star...



the Ajax landed a good run of hake over the weekend to complete this mornings auction round-up......



good to see young Mr Nudd back in the wheelhouse chair of the Intuition...



much work to be done here...



someone should be able to ID this gear... 

the Ecume des Jours and the Erispoe both called in for ice this morning...


since they were introduced in the early 80s most French trawlers are built along the same lines - the wheelhouse sits on top of the shelterdeck with the access stairs, galley, skippers cabin, washrooms etc housed under the shelterdeck on both sides of the boat allowing a clear deck amidships from the stern up to the forepeak, an aft gantry caters for up to four net drums with the cod ends taken over the transom...


the catch drop on deck and are sorted into baskets...


like many of the boats in Newlyn who have conger eels to deal with in their catches it looks like the Breton guys also follow the practice of leaving them for  a watch or two before attempting to gut them - many a cherished gutting knife has had the blade snapped when a conger twits violently during the gutting process...


L'Ecume des Jours...


heads out through the gaps to resume fishing...


well south of Newlyn alongside the Erispoe...




it seems ageing members of the once mighty Stevenson fleet are being prepared for their final voyages to the scrapyard...



and are just waiting for a window in the weather before a tug can be despatched......



as the online auction nears its end the merchants arrive to pick up their morning purchases.

Friday 20 January 2023

Fish of the Day - week 10 - coley.


Coley or coalfish, also known as saithe or locally as blackjack are a large whitefish similar to cod. 

They are caught and landed predominantly by the netters like the Ocean Pride when working on wrecks.

In Germany, they are preferred to cod where there has been a big market ever since the days of the distant water fleets fishing from Grimsby, Hull and Fleetwood. Rockall often provided big shots of coley - with some larger vessels making the long steam from the Rock to land direct to Germany in the 80s.


But the taste for coley has never quite matched that of the Germans in the UK. Years ago, when there was a Macfisheries shop on many high streets coley were sold as 'cat fish'. The flesh is firm and flaky but can be used in fish stews or pies.

An average price for saithe on the market would be around £3.00 per kilo.


Newlyn is awash with #FishyFriday fish!

Despite the weather, Cornish sardines have continue to be landed every night this week...


methinks the catching days are over for these two pots...


it's a little early in the year for John Dory...


those are fine meaty ray wings...


a trio of brill from Lady Lynne...


pouts and scallops...


one big conger...


there were plenty of hake from the three netters to land, the Stelissa was one boat...


the local name for smoothounds...


Britannia V was another netter to land hake...


and some cracking haddock...


at the moemnt the boats can land their bass by-catch


the tub gurnard in ice...


there were precious few monk tails up for auction this morning...


but there were sevral mighty bass...


and a brace of Dovers...


and a few black bream...


Tom lands his smoothounds too...


the netters pick up a few spiders while working well south of Newlyn...


big plaice from the inshore trawler...


and plenty more wings...


'silver darlings' do get landed sometimes...


along with the much more common mackerel...


early signs of the spawning season from the Annie May...


roe taken from the pollack they caught...


name that fish that owns this tail...


times they are a-changing....


all will be good when the small fish and mackerel grader arrives and is up and running...


the lucrative cuttle...


landed by the ton...


at the end of every netting trip any damaged tiers of nets are taken off for repair...


these days all the larger boats box their fish at sea...


a busy end to the week as the sun comes up...



there's plenty to keep the netters busy...


heading back to Mallaig, RNLI lifeboat 17-33 waiting to take fuel...


the recent storms have revealed even more of the old causeway that linked Wherry Town  and Newlyn...


as work begins to install the next batch...


of concrete blocks...


on the beach in front of Newlyn Green.