Newlyn welcomes new deputy harbourmaster, Alan Hartwell.

In a week that saw the biggest Beam trawlers landing in the port...

and the Cornishman back in action...

it was good to catch up with the new Deputy Harbourmaster, Alan Hartwell. Alan started in post last week after jumping ship from the Scillys where he had worked in St Mary's harbour for the last 15 years. Seems to be enjoying himself in the biggest and most diverse fishing port in England!

 

Fish of the Day - week 13 - delicious Dover Sole.

 

Dover sole, are an oval shaped flatfish which are highly prized for their fabulous taste and texture. Thanks to a successful sole recovery plan sole populations are healthy in south western waters and sole is a good choice. 

Sole stocks in Cornish waters have been well managed in recent years, thanks to the EU Sole recovery plan. The Trevose bank closure (off Cornwall's north coast) has also helped protect spawning sole and benefitted the recovery of the stock. Sole are caught in mixed trawl fisheries so there are risks of damage to the seabed and accidental by catch of sharks, rays and many fish species. 351 tonnes of sole were landed to Cornish ports in 2019 with a value of £4.4million (MMO data).

In some sense, the irony is that stocks are so healthy that the beam trawl fleet are forced to avoid some grounds at certain times as the limited quota enjoyed by the fleet means that they can end up dumping more than they land. Smart skippers target these most highly valued fish at certain times of the year in order to maximise their profit margins.

Last year the port was repeatedly broken by several Newlyn based boats over a number of weeks, starting in early March with the Enterprise then a few weeks later broken yet again by the Billy Rowney with the bulk of their grossing coming from Dovers. 

Newlyn fish Dover sole prices in 1997

On the market this morning Dovers averaged £14.00 per kilo, low for the time of year and not really that much more than this auction price back in 1997 - 26 years ago - when fuel was around 30p a litre too - fuel at the quayside was 85p per litre last week and fuel is by far the biggest expense a boat incurs off the top.

Like many fish, Dovers have names given to them by fishermen. The local term for Dovers in general is 'stickers' - their rough skin enables them to stick to one another almost like velcro. The very largest fish are called 'doormats' as they resemble the coir kind of mat often found in homes. The smallest sizes are 'slips' and 'tongues'.  Dovers are tough fish and find a way of getting through the smallest or any damaged meshes. Decky learners would often be reprimanded by their older and wiser colleagues if they ever missed the chance to mend even a single broken mesh - saying, "Every Dover that finds your hole is costing us all money from our wages!"

It was common practice in the days of shelving fish in the fishroom to stick Dovers together in pairs - white side inwards. The idea was to protect the look of the pristine white belly colour of the fish and protect them from being damaged or discoloured buried in the ice on the shelves. These days most boats box at sea thereby reducing the need to protect fish from damage when shelved.

Always best to ask your local fishmonger to skin the fish if you are going to cook them as fillets or on the bone. They have a delicate flavour and only need butter and a dash of lemon to bring out the best in them - what's more they cook in seconds so help reduce your household energy consumption!

However, if you want to have a go yourself Duncan from The Fish Shop in Camberley shows you how!

Final landings for the week this #FishyFriday.

Something of a purple haze pervaded the harbour this morning...

with the netters away to sea the only hake landed in any quantity came courtesy of the Irish trawler Dillon Owen II...

adding to the huge range of fish up for auction, there are five species of ray in this stack alone...

like these delicious Dover sole...

and a rather large conger...

beam trawl fish came from the St Georges, like these gorgeous tubs...

while inshore trawl fish were in good supply from the latest boat to join the fleet...

the Cygnus GM30 Lisa Leanne bought from Martin Johns in Plymouth...

by young Roger Nowell, seen here doing what every trawler skipper loves most, mending...

looks like there's a good few meshes to be braided yet before she can go back to sea...

later in the year when the John Dory season starts proper these two boats will go head-to-head to see who is this year's Dory king!..

back at the auction thre were plenty of flats like these lemons from the St Georges...

along with a good selection of handline fish from inshore boats from many of the coves and harbours in West Cornwall...

including mackerel...

and herring...

the Elisabeth of Ladram landed her catch to be sold away on Brixham auction...

she's not the only visiting trawler, though the Harvest Reaper is for sale to someone wanting to make a good living fishing inshore...

the Steph of Ladram was towed out of the harbour by the tug Knighton and heading for Whitby and some serious repair work. In the not too distant future Newlyn should be able to have such repairs carried out when the harbour is extended and enjoys the benefit of deepwater berthing - see the concept plans in detail here...

Whitby bound - towing courtesy of the tug Knighton ably assisted by local tugboat Danmark.

How digital technologies can support small-scale fisheries.

The fishing industry has always been quick to take up and make technology work in its favour. Look how the industry moved from using landmarks and soundings to adopting Decca and then just how quickly, when the technology became affordable, boats carried the kind of fish finding and satellite navigations systems that today can be found on the smallest inshore punt!

Advances in technology mean that even a mobile phone can run highly sophisticated apps - including communication and navigation. More recently, access to the internet means that huge amounts of data can be recorded and store in real time - and as fishermen know to their cost - those with access to accurate data these days means holding the upper hand when it comes to managing catch data and stock levels. Technology like blockchain and AI image recognition are just now beginning to show the uses to which they can be put for the benefit of individual and groups of fishermen - especially where there is a need to argue the case for increasing or defend quota.

Later this month the Fish-X webinar below - although focused on the Adriatic region - will be of real interest to all those involved in inshore fishing - data is knowledge and knowledge is power.

Read on:

We would like to invite you to the next Fish-X webinar entitled “How digital technologies can support small-scale fisheries in the Adriatic region” on February 24, 2023. This Fish-X webinar will show practical ways on how in particular small-scale fishers from the Adriatic Region can improve their daily businesses with the support of digital technologies such as ICT, IoT, Cloud-edge computing, AI, machine learning, immersive technologies, and blockchain. While at first glance, digital tools may look like an extra obstacle for the thousands of active fishers on the ocean, it can and should not be ignored that it offers attractive regulation framework while taking common responsibility to foster sustainable fisheries and marine biodiversity. You can register for the webinar via the link given below:

Registration link

 

The Fish-X project is making a steady progress, but the further success of the project depends on your active participation that will also allow us to share the updates of the project and invite you to the upcoming events.

 

Fish-X is a technology and open-source driven project, which aims at making the European Union fishery industry more sustainable. It is a 3-year project and has been initiated and co-funded by the EU Horizon Europe Programme. The project is developing a Fisheries’ Dataspace (Fish-X), a Traceability App, and an Insight Platform that is based on smart orchestrated architecture and open interoperable technology via Gaia-X. The dataspace and platform allow users to utilise the data for improved fishing methods, increased yields, and protected endangered fish species.

 

We would be delighted if you would fill in the quick survey to let us know more about you and your interest in the Fish-X Project.

Survey link

 

To learn more about the Fish-X Project, please visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter and social media channels via the links given below:

Website:          https://fish-x.eu/

LinkedIn:         https://www.linkedin.com/company/fishx-project/

Instagram:       https://www.instagram.com/fishx_project/

Twitter:           https://twitter.com/fishx__project

YouTube:         https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrXzicZTwnVU-jWmiqzJlpQ

Cold but clear start to the week in Newlyn and plenty of fish!

Cracking start to the week in Newlyn...

with a good mix of inshore trawl fish...

 like these ray from the Guardian...

and net fish with black bream...

and plenty of hake from the Ygraine...

the supply of tub gurnards is keeping those fish shops in the know well supplied with these excellent eating fish...

superb whiting don't get better than these...

or these net caught haddock...

these days with Dover sole ver more prolific on the grounds even the gillnetters working 120mm mesh catch them in numbers...

and more tubs...

filling the inshore fridge there were plentiful supplies...

 of mackerel...

and a scattering of herring...

while the Enterprise landed around 100 boxes of soles...

and other top drawer fish like these red mullet...

this time of year sees a steady stream of visiting boats like the Constant Friend from Brixham...

and the Admiral Gordon from Plymouth...

enjoying a cold but clear start to the day...

all captured in the short time-lapse.

Fishing in the Data Age

 

This is a shout out to individual skippers with a particular interest in the gathering and use of your fishing data. 

Data should drive the management of fish stocks. Fishermen have the most robust data about fish stocks in the UK as compared to the small percentage gathered formally by scientific research - it has always been so. The question is how can fishermen get to see this data used for their benefit?

Please contact me with any thoughts or ideas you may have so thhat I can bring these to the next All Parliamentary Party Fisheries Group meeting - see below.

Robust, up-to-date, accurate data is essential for well-informed fisheries management. The fisheries industry has a key role to play in this data collection, due to fishers’ deep experiential knowledge of the ocean, the frequency of time spent at sea, and their interactions with the marine environment and the fish stocks it contains. This role is increasingly being realised through a range of measures, including both compulsory regulations and voluntary collaborations with scientists.

Fishers can feel negatively impacted by regulatory measures that necessitate data collection, for reasons such as a greater administrative burden, technical difficulties in ensuring compliance, or feelings of unnecessary scrutiny of their livelihoods. It is essential to ensure that data collection methods are straightforward and that collected data is used effectively and fairly, in collaboration with the fishing industry. This event will explore ways to strengthen efforts to make this a reality across the UK.

Fishing in the Data Age

Tuesday, February 21, 2023 10:00 AM 11:30 AM

Fish of the Day - week 12 - the lesser spotted dogfish.

 

The smallest dogfish landed in Newlyn, the lesser spotted dgfish (Scyliorhinus canicula) is better known as the murgey or more correctly mor-ki (sea dog in Cornish). 

This small shark is abundant around the coast of the UK.  These days a highly valuable fish supplied to crabbers for bait. Anyone who practised some dissection at school may also recognise this fish. Underneath its tough skin the skeleton made of cartilage and its cheapness made it a popular specimen in biology lessons.

In addition to being used for bait these fish were once skinned in huge numbers and the skin itself used as sandpaper. When dried and ground the resultant powder is used in the theatre of war is still used by army medics as a means of stemming blood-flow in large open flesh and internal wounds.

Lesser spotted dogfish numbers appear to be stable and increasing in some areas possibly due to their toughness and the lack of demand and low price offered for them. Consumers should avoid eating sharks as generally they are vulnerable to over fishing due to the fact that they are slow growing, late to mature and produce few young each year. Landings are increasing each year. 204 tonnes of lesser spotted dogfish were landed to Cornish ports in 2019 with a total value of £55K (MMO data).

They can be eaten fif you can get someone to skin one for you - very sweet tasting meat they are too!