Storm Darragh forces French trawlers to shelter in Falmouth Bay

As Storm Darragh approached, a handful of French trawlers working in the Western Approaches...

 

headed for the lee of the land...

and began dodging as wind speeds hovered around 50-60mph, the...

wave height at the Sevenstones Lightship averaged just over 20ft... 

some, kept very handy to the shore...

,

by Sunday morning, with the wind still gusting to 40 knots, the hake netter Ocean Pride left Newlyn at 6am for the fishing grounds south of the Scillys.

In with a bang! The lights go on in Newlyn.

Hundreds turned out for the big switch on...

 and to see Santa arrive by the Penlee lifeboat...

and to cheer on the fireworks.

Celtic Sea and Western Channel pelagic Fisheries Management Plan Social Survey

 

First #FishyFriday in December - and it's Harbour Lights switch on tonight - watch it on the webcam!

Just a glimmer in the sky and it's 8˚ at seven for the morning market roundup...

with a good mix of quality fish from the Crystal Sea...

and inshore boats...

along with monk tails...

a few dogs...

gurnard...

ray wings...

superb red mullet...

lemons...

and brill...

the boats won't be going anywhere with another storm charing across the Atlantic...

the Twilight III safely mothballed...

with the Nicola of Ladram waiting to land...

the harbour will see a few more boats before it gets dark - just in time for the fireworks to start and the...

big switch on of the harbour lights - watch them on the webcam tonight if you can't make it down!...

safely stored on the Stone Quay...

a broody sky for now...

as the Charlotte Clare takes the last of her sardine catch on board.

 

🚨🚨VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE!🚨🚨 NEWLYN HARBOUR LIGHTS GRAND SWITCH-ON FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER FROM 6:00PM

 NEWLYN HARBOUR LIGHTS GRAND SWITCH-ON 

FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER FROM 6:00PM 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨  

🚨🚨VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE!🚨🚨

Please be aware that due to event insurance stipulations, entrance to the switch-on area at Newlyn Harbour can ONLY be accessed through the main entrance gate next to the offices (circled in red). 

This will allow us to count the number of attendees in order to comply with the conditions of our insurance. Entrance is free but you must pick up a ticket at the main gate for each member of your group in order to gain entry. There will be no other public access points to the event. The children’s raffle tickets, also free, to enter the draw to switch on the 2024 harbour lights display will ONLY be given out at the main gate on entrance. 

Thank you for your understanding. Please spread the word & share. Marcia & team.

Any sign of sardines?

Testing time for the Xmas lights...

 as the Golden Harvest...

leaves the quay for a night hunting sardines, though apart from a couple of nights ago, finding the fish in Mounts Bay is proving something of a challenge with some of the boats looking elsewhere.

UK Sea Fisheries Statistics Update

 

The Marine Management Organisation has voluntarily suspended the accredited official statistics status of the Sea Fisheries Statistics.

Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has asked the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) to suspend the accredited official statistics status of the Sea Fisheries Statistics, including both the annual and associated monthly publications.

The temporary action, which has been approved, follows MMO’s investigation into the fisheries landing data it manages for England and reports on behalf of the UK Fisheries Authorities as part of the UK Sea Fisheries Statistics after discrepancies were discovered in the dataset earlier this year.

MMO’s Chief Statistician Rebekah Paul explained: “The Code of Practice for Official Statistics sets out the standards to which Official Statistics should be produced and published. It is focussed around three pillars of trustworthiness, value and quality, and covers all aspects of statistical production, including data collection, processing, and dissemination.

“Our investigation into discrepancies with the fisheries landing data earlier this year provided an opportunity to review our statistical production process from end-to-end, and further areas of improvement were identified.

“These areas of improvement are not necessarily to do with the quality of data published within these releases, but in relation to the presentation and documentation that accompanies these statistical series. We have therefore asked the OSR to suspend the accredited status while we develop and roll out an official statistics development programme with the aim of re-accrediting the UK Sea Fisheries Statistics as soon as we’re able.”

MMO is committed to the continuous improvement of our statistical products and hold ourselves to the highest standards. We will continue making the Sea Fisheries Statistics data available, with additional guidance for users about how to make best use of these data – the 2023 annual UK Sea Fisheries Statistics will be published on 5 December, though this will not include the results of the Fisherman’s Survey. These statistics remain the best available data and are still considered a reliable measure of industry activity at an overall (UK) level.

MMO has also identified areas for future development and improvement of all aspects of these statistics and will implement these revisions in the coming months under its Official Statistics Development programme. We will continue to offer full transparency and will clearly communicate any changes to customers and stakeholders ahead of implementation where possible.
You can find more details concerning this suspension in the statistical notice published on Gov.uk. You can also find a copy of the correspondence with the Office for Statistics Regulation here.