Filling up!

After months of work Jubilee Pool is filling up with sea water for the first time...

another Scottish prawn trawler takes ice in Newlyn...

as the Ygraine gets an outing.

USV Thomas sets sail for the Scillys.

Blue Thunder escorts the USV Thomas away from Newlyn tracked on VesselTracker's AIS.

A pioneering marine robot begins a two-week mission to capture images and data to record ocean life in a ‘biodiversity hotspot’ off the Cornish coast this week.

The unmanned, British-built surface vehicle, known as ‘Thomas’, is part powered by wind and solar energy and controlled remotely by satellite. Part of a new partnership between WWF and the National Oceanography Centre, Thomas will give scientists a better understanding of what lies beneath our oceans, helping improve conservation and marine management.

Thomas was designed and built by Portchester based ASV. Throughout the mission Thomas will be operated from ASV’s Control Centre in Portchester.

Thomas will begin the mission of discovery from Newlyn on 22 May, from where the support vessel ‘Blue Thunder’ will accompany him to an area near the Isles of Scilly, where an oceanic front dividing different water masses can be found. Ocean fronts – regarded by scientists as biodiversity hotspots and an important focus for marine research and conservation – attract high abundances of plankton, which in turn attract fish and top predators including basking sharks, seabirds, dolphins, porpoises and whales.

Thomas will carry sensors to detect marine life and simultaneously monitor the surrounding environment, including temperature and salinity of the water and weather conditions at the sea surface. He will be carrying GoPro cameras to capture images of seabirds and marine macro-litter, and passive acoustic monitors to detect clicks and whistles from echo-locating marine mammals such as harbour porpoise and common dolphin. He will be assisted in this task of by a sub-surface glider known as Drake, who will use a similar array of sensors to search up to 100 m below the surface.



Real-time snapshots of data collected by Thomas and Drake will be transmitted via satellite back to mission control at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, allowing scientists to adapt mission plans depending on what they see. Next month the vehicles will return to base laden with all their pictures and data, which are expected to reveal the extraordinary richness of these waters. These could help policymakers and scientists assess what additional measures might be needed to protect them.

Dr Lyndsey Dodds, Head of Marine Policy at WWF-UK, said:

“UK seas are a national treasure and contain more wildlife – from sharks to sunfish – than many people think. But they are under pressure from climate change, pollution and the marine industries that use our seas, and need careful protection. Thomas will help us learn about the life that is out of our sight and to safeguard our seas for future generations.”

The vessel is named Thomas after the father of Roland J Rogers of the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), the latest in a line of five generations of seafarers. Thomas, and many of the innovative sensors he is carrying, was developed by small British coastal tech companies, highlighting the growing strength of the rural maritime economy.

NOC’s Prof Russell Wynn, who is co-ordinating the research for WWF, said:

“Marine robotic technologies give us the opportunity to have a persistent presence in the ocean, and are changing the way in which we conduct science in the marine environment. The two vehicles on this latest mission are bristling with novel sensors that will act as our eyes and ears in the water, observing and detecting seabirds and marine mammals. The partnership between NOC, WWF and British platform and sensor developers allows us to demonstrate the potential of this clean, green technology to marine scientists, conservationists and policy-makers.”

Lack of data about the marine environment can present difficulties in carrying out effective marine conservation and management, such as designation of Marine Protected Areas. Autonomous vehicles or ‘robots’ can help solve this problem, as they present a low-cost alternative to large research ships as a means of gathering data. In the long term, developing countries in particular could benefit from the use of these vessels to carry out marine monitoring in some of the least-studied areas of the ocean, enabling them to develop more effective conservation and management plans.

Monday's market in Newlyn.

Dull and overcast this morning...

with just the one beam and two inshore trawl trips...

offering plaice from the Resurgam...

and Dory from the Millenia...

along with small shots of big ray from a few inshore boats who were out over the weekend...

the not so common or abundant, 'butterfly'squid...

when is a megrim not a megrim? when its a... 

filling the other end of the market, the netter Ajax topped off her trip with some big pollack...

and the more familiar MSC Certified Cornish hake...

with a good run of the 3-4 kilo grade...

and showing signs of strong recruitment, 1-2 and 2-3 kilo grades...

big turbot, big fish, big flavour...

down the quay, ever bigger visiting boats - the Achieve...

no prizes for guessing her country of origin - interesting to surmise what would happen if the UK voted to leave the EU and Scotland then voted to exit the UK and stay in - how would that work out for Scottish boats fishing for langoustine in 'our' waters?...

the Sapphire  girls together...

the business end of the Achieve, he deck layout boasts a wheelhouse above shelterdeck level with three net drums on her foredeck, her twin trawls are then hauled the length of the shelterdeck...

the Old Man of the Sea waits for the next tide...

almost ready to go back in the water...

all set for the next tide, the Ajax takes ice...

ever bigger boats line the quay this morning...

the Achieve is another of the prawn trawlers that freezes her catch at sea...

down the North quay the local beam trawler AA lands her fish.

Hook & Net out now

The latest Hook and Net is out for smartphone and tablet, packed with excitement. Deep water standoff, Work in Fishing, Faroe Focus, and new fishing vessels Ruth & Stefoly.

Download the free app to your mobile device here:

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Sublime Saturday evening light

Orion, the Sailor's star...

this time of year sees many of the boats with a fresh coat of paint...

like the Sheila T...

the harbour is never short of unusual visiting craft, this one...

the ASV Thomas will leave Newlyn on Sunday 22nd of May, destination the Scillys to be deployed by the vessel Ble Thunder...

the wind and solar powered, satellite controlled remote research vessel will carry out a survey of wildlife and ocean data in a marine hotspot - where two water masses collide off the Scillys...

partly sponsored by the National Oceanography Centre and the WWF...

Thomas will carry sensors to detect marine life and simultaneously monitor the surrounding environment, including temperature and salinity of the water and weather conditions at the sea surface. He will be carrying GoPro cameras to capture images of seabirds and marine macro-litter, and passive acoustic monitors to detect clicks and whistles from echo-locating marine mammals such as harbour porpoise and common dolphin. He will be assisted in this task of by a sub-surface glider known as Drake, who will use a similar array of sensors to search up to 100 m below the surface....

though Thomas lacks the lines of this classic yacht moored nearby...

or even the sweeping curves of Mollie May...

looking spruce...

and another star...

a measure of how some feel in the port...

while this time of year makes an evening on the water something special...

her time on the slip...

half a dozen anglers crowd the end of the quay...

while the Sapphire sisters get together again...

for some of the visiting boats, Saturday night means getting down to some serious trawl repairs on the quay...

and the haker, Ajax prepares to leave the fish market quay after landing...

and head back to a berth for the night.