Mid-week market in Newlyn.

Kids been playing crab-shell boats again...

this year the Kelly of Ladram has been fishing...

 almost to the edge of the continental shelf for hake and monk...

a little too far for the Maverick, now back on the move again...

with over eight days of easterly wind mackerel landings...

 are few and far between at the moment...

crusty blues...

a rare golden haddock landed by the seine netter, Acionna...

gill netters spend much of their time ashore taking on...

repaired nets...

the yacht Label Emmaus  retired form the Normandy Channel race citing personal reasons but I think they may be missing something, the rest of the fleet have not long rounded the Fastnet Light and are headed home......

we have to thank a group of artists who put paid to local builders removing the stone from the Old Harbour wall back in the late 1950s by getting the structure designated as a listed building!..

Karen N headed for the Stone quay to pick up her gear.

Langoustine on Monday morning's market in Newlyn.

More signs of summer, the beam trawler Enterprise, not to be outdone by the visiting Scottish prawn trawlers landed a few boxes of prawns herself, perfect for the BBQ...

as would these two cracking Couch's bream be...

more in keeping with indoor dining are these plate-size plaice...

and these less well known witch soles...

good to see the guys taking the time to cut out the cheeks f the larger monks that they have been catching rather then let crabs benefit from them...

the flood of octopus being caught shows no sign of abating either...

more traditional beam trawl fish like these megrim...

Dover sole...

and monk tails...

along with the added bonus of good sized John Dory...

a very dark-skinned bull huss from the inshore grounds...

handline fish from the inshore boats were mainly down to pollack...

while mackerel landings are almost non-existent at the moment...

so t is down to trap caught cuttles...

and bass for those who can catch them to make up for the loss of traditional summer mackerel...

which means the resident scrap hoover is probably hungrier than ever...

the ex-Valhalla now Andromeda...

landed a few boxes of frozen langoustine, weighed and boxed at sea...

then loaded onto the back of the waiting transport...

before fresh supplies of flatpack packing boxes went aboard for the next trip.

 

Bass Point doing sterling work - the first NCI watch station opened by Jenny Agutter.

With a fresh NE breeze blowing, Saturday saw the start of the AZAB (Azores and back) yacht race - here two of the competitors stay clear of the notorious overfalls off the Lizard - around 40 boats left Falmouth at 3pm headed for Ponta Delgada in the Azores on Leg 1...

with fine weather still on the cards for days to come the Lizard punts are on their moorings...

set against the backdrop of a sparkling sea...

walking east along the South West Coast Path...

and back across Housel Bay towards the Lizard lighthouse the sea is crystal clear...

passing handy ,the Ro-Ro cargo ship Celine is heading for Dublin...

while the Cadgwith fishing boat, Bob Winnie FH691heads off to haul some gear...

under the watchful eye of the NCI Bass Point watch station...

which was the first National Coastwatch Institution station which was opened in 1995...

on a very windy day in February of that year by actress, Jenny Agutter whose portrait hands alongside other memorabilia above the lookout windows...

on watch yesterday was former tin miner and veteran watchkeeper, Tom Cullen logging every passing vessel - a busy afternoon's work giving the AZAB competitors sailing past his windows...

just past the station is a plaque placed to commemorate the loss of the Loctudy trawler, Bugaled Breiz in 2004 with the loss of all hands...

the boat was a regular visitor to Newlyn...

and the second owned and skippered by Michelle Douce who was not aboard when the boat was lost.

 

Now over half way through the year, fish of the week 27 is megrim sole.

 

Megrim sole, the species of fish that for many years topped the leader board for the highest value of landings in Newlyn...

back in the day when the port supported a fleet of over 30 beam trawlers that over the years found more and more grounds off to the south west of Newlyn in the deeper waters...

like all flat fish the underside is devoid of pigment in the skin and a translucent white...

while the top side, with eyes very close together has that characteristic pale brown colouring which distinguishes the fish from its more colourful relatives like lemons, Dovers, dabs and plaice...

both sides can be seen here. 

According to the Cornwall Good Seafood Guide, the fish make good eating, tough even now the majority of them auctioned on the market in Newlyn for for export mainly to Spain. Also known as Cornish Sole, Megrim is a deep water, flatfish which tastes incredible. Like a flat version of a bass a megrim has a huge mouth used to suck up its prey, which mainly consists of smaller fish. 

Megrims are caught by Cornish trawlers who use more selective fishing gear. They have delicious tender meat and are easily filleted. Traditionally this fish has not been eaten in the UK with the majority of landings being exported to France and Spain where they are far better appreciated but Brexit has made this more difficult and local UK markets are now being sought urgently. Local restaurants like Argoe based in the harbour and The Shore in Penzance both feature megrims regularly on their menus.