Welcome to Through the Gaps, the UK fishing industry's most comprehensive information and image resource. Newlyn is England's largest fish market and where over 50 species are regularly landed from handline, trawl, net, ring net and pot vessels including #MSC Certified #Hake, #Cornish Sardine, handlined bass, pollack and mackerel. Art work, graphics and digital fishing industry images available from stock or on commission.
It's Sunday evening and waiting for a berth at the iceworks...
the Vesta along with...
the Golden Harvest is about to embark on another night's sardine fishing...
as the latest crab boat to join the fleet...
lands her catch to the waiting vivier transport...
at 6am when the fish auction starts it is now pitch black outside...
and this morning's market is choc-a-block with some big landings of hake form the Govenek of Ladram...
and the Ajax...
and here's the man with the measure of things - Gary from Cefas records sample of certain species every morning for length and age...
today's landings include pollack...
lemon soles from the beam trawler Cornishman...
plenty of line caught mackerel...
bass...
and jigged squid...
while the beam trawler St Georges picked up a good shot of ray...
and a few scallops...
bigger fish included these cod...
John Dory and turbot...
the Ajax also put ashore a few spur dogs, easily recognised by their bright green eyes...
just a few of the three boxes of mackerel from John Boy handlining from his punt, Nik-Nak...
it takes a lot of mackerel to equal just a handful of bass, such is the difference in price per kilo...
Mr Smith steamed in with another good shot of line caught pollack..
much of the top quality beam trawl fish was auctioned in the second chill room of the market - boats and buyers alike will be keen to see the second phaser of the fish market refurbishment completed - in a few weeks apparently...
after a long night at sea...
the netter Asthore is landing her six tonnes of sardines...
getting the thumbs-up from young Aaron...
and his bessy...
a promising start to the day with some light in the sky...
finds the Lady of Avenel safely alongside the south pier - book a trip on this classic tall ship for a taste of a life long ago...
heading in to land with a shot of craws, (crayfish) or spiny lobster as they are sometimes known ...
most of the netting fleet are in Newlyn over the next few days waiting for the next neap tide to begin.
Seafish researchers are calling on vessel owners and skippers in Cornwall and Devon to have their say on the state of the fishing industry in its 13th annual economic survey of the UK fishing fleet. This year’s survey is travelling across the UK gathering data on fishing and vessel costs to provide a comprehensive overview of the financial and operational performance of the fishing industry. With the UK preparing to exit the European Union, it is vital fishers provide accurate data to paint a clear picture of the performance of the industry for policy makers. Researchers will be visiting fishing ports between St Ives and Ilfracombe, Porthleven and Looe and Newlyn and Sennen from the 3-6 September. 2017 was a mixed year for the fishing fleet, with operating profit seeing a 4% decrease, but total fishing income rising by £38 million to reach £984 million. Many skippers raised the uncertain political and trade landscape, the availability of fish, oil and fuel price and quota as some of their main concerns. The 2018 survey is a chance for the industry to give up to date information on their successes and upcoming challenges, helping their voices be heard. This year will also include a social demographic section, asking fishers about their age, qualifications and working arrangements, providing more insight in to the individuals in the catching sector. The findings from this years’ survey, to be published in 2019, will be crucial for uncovering the direction the industry is moving in and give a clear insight on how fishers see the future of their industry. Economics Project Manager at Seafish Steve Lawrence said “We have to find out from those on the front line of the fishing industry how their economic performance has been over the past 12 months. This insight means we can keep all those in the sector fully informed on the health of the fleet. For us to be able to keep policy makers informed with our reports we need as many skippers and vessel owners as possible to be involved and have their say.” “This year we are also collecting data social data about the crews working on board UK fishing vessels. Collecting this social data helps us to build up a much more detailed picture of the UK fishing industry. This rich information is vital to ensure decision makers understand how communities and livelihoods are affected by changing management measures, particularly now as we head towards EU exit and a new fisheries policy.” “We appreciate the continued support of the fishing industry in Cornwall and Devon and encourage all skippers and vessel owners in the area to speak to our researchers. “There is an added benefit for participants; all vessel owners can request a free financial performance benchmark report which allows comparisons with the average performance of similar vessels.” The survey is supported by the national federations and local associations around the UK. All information provided is treated as confidential and no individual vessel figures will be revealed in any report. Anybody interested in taking part in the survey should contact Steve Lawrence at Seafish on 0131 524 8663 or email steven.lawrence@seafish.co.uk. To view the results of last year’s report, visit the Seafish website.
The UK and France have failed to agree a deal to end a dispute over scallop fishing in the English Channel. Crews clashed in the waters last month over laws that allow British boats to gather scallops year-round, but places restrictions on French vessels. The two sides had agreed on the principles of a deal earlier this week, but were unable to finalise it during negotiations on Friday. A government spokeswoman said discussions were continuing. Further talks have been proposed for Tuesday, but the meeting has not yet been confirmed.
Last night over 50 people in two groups attended the first public consultation presentations given by Lucy Parsons, project manager for the Newlyn Pier and Harbour Commissioners in the new fish market conference room. Lucy ran through some background to the proposed developments and fielded questions from the audience...
especially with regard to the very short timescale between revealing the plans and the final submission date - the middle of next month. NP&HC are currently in the process of submitting the second phase of a funding bid to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the EU Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF)Growth Programme 2014-2020 for part-funding of a £6.142m project with the aim of developing core harbour activity and high value employment. If successful, NP&HC could accelerate their planned development programme to maximise useable space; further enhance the efficiency and safety of harbour operations; improve the public realm; screen off industrial traffic, and construct a number of high quality industrial units during the next three years. Specifically, this programme would involve the phased replacement of harbour buildings on The Strand and the construction of six to eight industrial units on the site of the inshore lifeboat shed when the RNLI have relocated their activities to the new Penlee Lifeboat Station. These units would be designed to complement Newlyn’s heritage, maximise views, provide professional, customer-facing facilities and improve both commercial and pedestrian access. Green spaces would be incorporated within the overall development and hidden history would be revealed in order to further enhance public amenity. “By providing premises for a broader range of fisheries and marine industry as well as improving value for our existing tenants, we can create more well-paid jobs and provide the catalyst for other local businesses to prosper,” explains Harbour Master & Chief Executive Officer, Rob Parsons. “This proposed development is about improving the townscape, the traffic flow and the economic vitality of Newlyn so we look forward to sharing our plans with local people to demonstrate how they could benefit everyone in our diverse community.” These public consultation events will incorporate a rolling programme of tours of the recently-refurbished Fish Market and information slides in the Board Room between 5pm and 7pm on Friday 7thSeptember and 9am and 12 noon on Saturday 8th September. Further updates will be posted to the harbour's website for those who are unable to attend. The meetings were told that the current Brexit situation had seriously eroded into the time left available to bid for EU (mainly ERDF) funding.
Black is the sardine boat Pelagic Marksman in the ice berth after a night's fishing in the Bay...
red are the mullet...
silver are the hake from Britannia IV's overnight landing...
blue are the line caught mackerel from St Ives...
pristine white is the turbot...
silver and gold are the line caught bass and pollack...
some of Britannia Vs hake are over 6 kilos each...
as the swallows depart and head south so it seems do the John Dory as catches for the inshore boats begin to drop away...
there's no time chat as Edwin heads for the Falfish lorry with another pallet of fish...
while a handful of boxes of cod were landed on Newlyn...
over 9000, yes 9000 boxes of fish were landed on Peterhead this morning...
landings of squid are still well below what might be expected for this time of year...
the Karen of Ladram also put ashore a shot of hake...
maybe it would be easy to mistake a big blue shark swimming alongside you for something more dangerous...
after the auction it's time to sort the fish...
pull the boxes on to pallets...
and haul them away for processing and packing...
then it's time to tally the morning's bids...
another blossoming bromance or just an affectionate hug to celebrate those new oily leggings...
another day dawns...
while fishing for scallops is being argued over inLondon and Paris one of Newlyn's visiting scallopers has filled her boots or bags from local grounds...
the Gratitude finished bagging up her last haul in the harbour...
looks like Harveys are busy boiling crabs this morning...
as the demolition team looks to start another day...
PJ is a little more cheerful he doesn't have quite so far to carry his gear down to the boat...
as he passes all that is left of the old Penlee Lifeboat house...
