Blue whiting survey news- directfrom the boat at Rockall.

Blogging at the end of a day's work aboard the research ship Tridens keeps fishermen in the picture with regard to research being carried out that could one day impact on fishing opportunities. The Dutch research ship is currently making a survey of blue whiting stocks off the west coast of Ireland, from the Porcupine Bank up to Rockall. A second, Russian ship should have joined the survey earlier but has been delayed by poor weather. Survey work is likely to be further delayed tonight with a deep low making a pass across the area over the next twenty four hours as the latest blog post indicates.

The ship is run by IMARES (Institute for Marine Resources  and Ecosystem Studies) is the Netherlands research institute established to provide the scientific support that is essential for developing policies and innovation in respect of the marine environment, fishery activities, aquaculture and the maritime sector. The ship has a page on the IMARES site here.

CEFAS currently run one of the most modern survey vessels in the world, the CEFAS Endeavour. It would be good to see one of our own survey vessels - one of the most important in terms of fisheries research in the UK make its work as public and readily available as other fisheries research teams. Several members of the crew aboard the Endeavour are, in fact, local ex-skippers from Newlyn. 

Good communications are key to creating an open dialogue and in an age of 'transparency' at the heart of public service. A flow of information and comment between the work of CEFAS, which has done much to create a more positive working relationship with the fishing industry, and the industry could help reduce what seems ever increasing pressure to justify every aspect of fishing operations can only be for the good. On the IMARES site there is a statement of intent  which cites how they have cooperate with Dutch fishermen in the North Sea beginning with the F Project in 2002 - this eventually led to the formation of a platform for Collaborative Research in 2008 involving representatives from the industry, managers and scientists. Today, they use the VMS system to track the entire Dutch fleet in the North Sea in order to help build up a picture of fish stocks and fishing effort with the full support of the fleet.

It would be good to see our own research effort become as interactive as the Dutch in the hope that decisions on the future of fishing have even more input from those who are affected by the research carried out on their behalf - the fishermen. These days the technology exists to allow interaction between ship and shore as never before. The is the latest information online regarding the most recent survey work carried out by RV Endeavour. Links to the entire fisheries research programme are on this page and include the beam trawl survey for Dover Sole that began aboard the Bogey 1 in 1984. CEFAS are able to respond to requests from the industry over what to survey and are currently limited to funding from the Government of £1million per annum.

Colourful start.

One of a pair of colourful visitors spotted in Penzance this morning.......

 and even the beach is looking verdant........

 almost as colourful as this Fred Yates' painting coming up for auction........

 not the kind of menu Mr Stein may have brought to his Newlyn fish and chip shop methinks.........

 just a little kick ahead for the Chloe T about to take ice........

 seems this skipper can do two jobs at once........

 when the man says jump........

 plenty to do on the Dom Bosco.........

 box art I.........

box art II.

Mullet mesh madness - when is 60mm not 60mm?

On 60mm mesh, the Orion gauge indicates 67mm - under the required 1Kg pressure.

Fishermen who have invested in lightweight monofilament gill net to target species like red mullet may look to use the gear with some trepidation. Using a net gauge that applies the required 1Kg of pressure under EU regulations (introduced to give an accurate reading of much heavier twine used by trawlers and beam trawlers) the soft twine soon stretches to give average readings well over the 60mm! Of course, this also works to advantage at the other end of the scale with some nets that are under 80mm then averaging out well over 80mm!


This will be one of the first jobs from April 1st for the newly formed IFCA (Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority) with its much wider remit to include environmental issues that were not part of the old CSFs responsibility in the same way - and IFCA is no April Fool or Poisson d'Avril as the day is known in France.


A timely publication of research CEFAS carried out aboard Chris Bean's Lady Hamilton last year gives an insight in to just how complicated any form of net legislation is with regard to targeting specific species, especially inshore where those fishermen who work the smallest vessels in the fleet have no option to shift 'further off'!

Project 20: Cornwall red mullet gill net fishery discard reduction

Purpose: To look at the capture of red mullet, and associated species, with different mesh sizes of gill nets. A range of nets will be used, within the range 50-80mm, made up into identical fleets to help determine the desirable net size to reduce the number of discards.
Timing: June to October 2010  

Selectivity of gill nets used in the Cornish RedMullet fishery.

RIP CSFC

CSFC boss Eddie Derriman at the helm of the fisheries patrol boat St Piran under its old nomenclature.

Westcountry inshore fishermen may mourn the end of Sea fisheries Committees (SFCs), voluntary bodies (once formed to placate quarrels between fishermen) that have looked after both fish and shellfish stocks in coastal waters for over a century. Twelve such bodies stretch around England and Wales and from April 1 will be replaced by IFCAs – Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities.

The last meeting of the Cornwall SFC was held at the County Hall, Truro on Friday (18 March), where Chief Fishery Officer Eddie Derriman gave a talk on the history of SFCs; and the final meeting of Devon SFC will take place at Plymouth City Council Offices this Friday, where its Chief Fishery Officer Keith Bower will present 26 pages of history and anecdotes since Devon SFCs inception in 1892. Cornwall SFC was the second of 12 SFCs that were vested and “much has happened during the 121 years it has been in place,” explained Mr Derriman, adding how the service began with a lone fishery officer who patrolled the ports and worked from home, a service which now has 11 personnel. Originally the committee had just 24 members.


The first Cornwall SFC byelaw came in 1890 as the ‘Steam Trawling Byelaw’ made on 20 August, only five months after the committee was created to prevent steam powered trawlers from working within the SFCs jurisdiction, then being three miles from the lowest drying rock. Only in 1993 did all SFCs extend their powers out to six-miles offshore.

Salt pilchards in a wooden cask bound for Italy.

In 1898 a census of the fishing industry found there were 1,242 fishing boats in Cornwall, mostly pilchard catchers, of which 161 were steam driven. Almost 5,500 men worked aboard those vessels with an estimated 40,000 people ashore working in the pilchard ‘palaces’, brining and pressing the pilchards.

Devon SFCs history is similar, yet in practice Devon SFCs actions and operations were quite different. That ‘difference’ applied to all neighbouring SFCs. While having adjoining borders, fishing practices within each SFC are often widely different – and the valuable local knowledge of that difference may be lost within IFCAs, fear many.

Devon SFCs first elected chairman was the Mayor and Chief Magistrate of Plymouth, Mr Windeatt, “well known to all as one who had given a lot of time to fishery matters,” writes Keith Bower. He explained how SFCs began during a Victorian era when technology was moving fast, steam powered vessels were replacing sail; fish and shellfish stocks were increasingly under pressure. Soon came the Devon SFC byelaw to curtail the use of trammel nets, one net should not exceed 70 fathoms in length and not to be set within 50 fathoms of another. Some committee members sought help to understand what a trammel net was! On 11 September 1892 Devon SFC held a meeting with Torquay fishermen hearing that “the destruction of mother-fish, spawn and young fish by trawlers had almost ruined the fishing in Torbay”. Fishermen told how before more Brixham trawlers wandered onto inshore ground, they could make a living with nets and lines set close to the shore; predicting how over fishing by such trawlers would invite other countries such as Germany to benefit from the conflict and quickly supply the UK with that shortfall of fish.

From that conflict stemmed the three mile limit, within which trawling was quickly banned, the committee were told how the “big Brixham trawlers” would not be affected and were not to blame as they “did not desire to fish in Torbay, it was the small ones that did the mischief”.

Such offenders were skilfully waiting for line fishermen – known as hookers – to run out of bait. Yet after the hookers ceased fishing the smell of their bait remained in the seawater and had attracted many fish into a relatively small area; the small trawlers quickly moved-in to scoop-up whatever was on the seabed – often ripping away the long lines from the few remaining hookers too!

Article courtesy of Phil Lockley.

Plymouth Marine Studies visit headed up by Dr Simon Ingram.

 End-to-end with fish this morning on the market......

 and the guys were still grading after the auction had started........

down the quay the trip's work is not over yet as Alan the Irishman next to Pete the Cornishman gets his boys to over end the gear.......

one happy skipper, Timmy Boyle washes down the good ship Gary M after an excellent run of fish sees his third landing for the tide go for auction......

 and it's just quality fish all the way.........

back down the quay and there are more reasons to be cheerful part III, another smiling skipper, after arriving at midnight then landing till gone four this morning it's an early start at seven and a quick shower in the offing for TV favourite skipper Elsworth.......

 while down on the market his fish is just being sold.......

at the same time as Simon Ingram and 27 students from the University of Plymouth Marine Studies department including 14 Hong Kong students enjoy a tour of the fish market and auction courstey of Lionel..........

seen here demonstrating how the angler fish attracts potential victims towards its gaping mouth while laying on the sea bed.......

next up, and the cause of some consternation judging by the look on some faces, Lionel points out the differences between two species of ray.......

with the students keen to make notes as they go.

North Atlantic first for Newlyn! - a white lipped Australian monk fish.

Lophius piscatorius

Here is a typical Northern Atlantic monk or angler fish Lophius piscatorius showing it's 'fishing rod' that it uses to attract its prey.........

Lophius pistakus

contrast that to the white-lipped Southern Atlantic or Australian angler fish Lophius pistakus which has eveolved to lay on the sea bed upside down with its lower lip protruding thereby disguising itself as a dead or decaying fish. This is the the first time one of these fish has ever been recorded this far north - a sure sign of the shift in sea temperatures fishermen are noticing in the North Atlantic. Newquay Aquarium were gutted to find that the fish had been taken aboard living but, despite using the shellfish tank, the crew were unable to keep the specimen alive till the end of their trip.


Monk fish are hugely important in the Western Approaches for the South West fleets. Local Newlyn beamers, Twilight and Billy Rowney completed another annual survey for CEFAS in November last year, the results of which can be seen in this publication.

Busy!