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Wednesday, 10 May 2023

Visitors from north of the border.

Local lugger, the Barnabas is in the middle of an annual repaint and repair - anyone interested in sailing aboard this superb vessel full of history need only get in touch with the Cornwall Maritime Trust...


with settled weather and the end of the spring tide there was plenty of movement in the harbour this morning...


as Penwith Marine prepared to take Brackan's generator of the Uggie Newport's waiting transport...


after hitching up the IRB...



the guys watch as she is carefully hoisted ashore for her six-monthly service...


just arrived this morning the prawn trawler Revival...


was joined by the Orion...


and the Ocean Vision...


it's smiles all round on the Enterprise...


as she finally heads for the gaps on her way out for the next trip...

allowing the Revival to get alongside the quay...


astern of the Orion...


with time just for a short pause...


before all hands set to scrubbing down the paintwork - ...


- a move every fishing boat goes through at the end of a trip...


in order to keep the boats in good order...


all the visiting prawn boats land their langoustine to a lorry...


a scene nicely captured by the Newlyn Fishing webcam...


traditionally, Scottish vessels land their monk whole...


the fish from all three boats will be ready for Thursday's auction...


looks like the Crystal Sea has a new trawl to take on board.


 

Tuesday, 9 May 2023

Coronation weekend fish and cruise ship.


Ferrying its passengers to and fro' Penzance by ship's lifeboats, the French cruise ship Le Bellot spent the weekend anchored in Mounts Bay...



before heading around the corner for Liverpool and then Dublin...



with the Bank Holiday over...



the fish auction was back in full swing early on Tuesday morning with quality fish like these red mullet...



turbot...



and John Dory from the beam trawler Enterprise...



not to be distracted by the celebrations ashore, the inshore trawlers all put in trips...



to kickstart the week with the best possible fish...



plaice...



megrim sole...



and Dovers...



speedily packed up...



while the inshore punts and toshers made good landings of tagged bass...


Tom must have been pleased at the sight of John Dory dropping out of the cod end...



to go with the rest of his trip...



and some big octopus...



from boats like the Benediction added to the miix...



just in time to catch the morning auction, Penlee lifeboat cox Parch Harvey swings a few boxes of cuttles ashore at the market helped out by the ever-cheerful Cod...



who then steamed off to put the boat back in its pontoon berth...



while Patch sorts and weighs his cuttle catch...



never have so may of these big fish been caught as this year, and with their appetite for lobsters a worrying trend for local pot men in the future...



mackerel were also a feature of landings from the punts...



at this time of year scallopers from as far away as Scotland venture southwards, the Peterhead registered Evening Star between trips...


she works seven dredges a side...


the first boat to go up on the newly repaired slip is the Joy of Ladram, let's hope she comes down as easily as she went up...



another visiting scalloper, working six a side, the Aylee Rose from Falmouth...



inshore trawler sterns...



with a fleet of hake nets on the quay it looks like the boys on the Karen of Ladram have their work cut out today!

Saturday, 6 May 2023

Five top Cornish chefs will cook your Fishermen’s Mission Charity dinner!

Introducing a very special charity dinner for The Fishermen’s Mission supported by Helping Hands & Pans – taking place on Saturday 10th June at Trevear Farm near Padstow.


Fishermen’s Mission Charity Dinner Trevear Farm | Saturday 10th June | 6.45 – 11pm Tickets (seated communally) £100




The four-course set menu of seafood dishes will be cooked by a team of from Helping Hands and Pans, including some of the very best chefs that Cornwall has to offer – Jack Stein, Jude Kereama, Guy Owen, Mick Smith and Stephane Delourme. From this list of names, you know you’re going to have the most memorable evening with some serious cookery skills on show.

A few very experienced professionals will be shining their shoes and pressing their best shirts to give you the warmest of welcomes front of house, supported by a brigade of very kind volunteers.

Tickets are £100, including a welcome drink and half a bottle of wine, with the proceeds going to support The Fishermen’s Mission’s



The menu

Selection of canapes

  • Sliced Cornish scallops with ponzu dressing and pink grapefruit
  • Teriyaki mackerel, cucumber, radish and wasabi
  • Korean fried monkfish tail, gochujang and pickled spiced vegetables
  • Raspberry poached Tamarillo with Bergamot and vanilla panna cotta


There will also be an auction on the night with some very impressive experiences and items on offer. Again, all proceeds will go support The Fishermen’s Mission’s work.

Please note: Individual tickets will seated on communal tables.

Friday, 5 May 2023

Fish of the week - the keinak, better known as the shad.


There are two types of shad - the twaite and allis. The above example is an allis shad as twaite's seldom grow larger than 2lbs. 

British Sea Fishing tells us that The only other differences are that allis shad have more than seventy scales along the lateral line and more than ninety gill rakers, whereas twaite shad have fewer than seventy scales along the lateral line and fewer gill rakers. The dark spots on the flanks and tail vary within and between species meaning they cannot be used for identification purposes. The two species can also interbreed, meaning that some shad exist which have numbers of lateral line scales and gill rakers between the figures mentioned above.

A rare fish to see on the market as they are very much an occasional by-catch and not landed in any quantity.