The House of Lord's follow-up response to the implementation of the Landing Obligation.

Today sees the publishing of the Lord's follow-up response to the implementation of the Landing Obligation.

Report published

• Report: Fisheries: implementation and enforcement of the EU landing obligation (HTML)
• Report: Fisheries: implementation and enforcement of the EU landing obligation (PDF)
• Report : The EU fisheries landing obligation: six months on (HTML)
• Report: The EU fisheries landing obligation: six months on (PDF)
• Government response: Fisheries: implementation and enforcement of the EU landing obligation ( PDF 213 KB)
• Government response: The EU fisheries landing obligation: six months on ( PDF 267 KB)
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Despite the long lead-in time, when the Committee examined the issue in November and December 2018 they found little evidence of the landing obligation being followed to date and an almost unanimous view that the UK was not ready for full implementation.

Without being able to discard fish, fishers may reach their quotas much earlier in the year – particularly in 'mixed fisheries' where it will be hard to avoid catching a species for which there may be a very low quota. The Committee heard that fishers could hit their quota for some species in some areas within a few weeks of the landing obligation coming into force, forcing them to choose between not fishing for the rest of the year (which would have serious financial implications for them) and breaking the law by continuing to fish for other species and discarding anything caught over quota.

All Implementation and enforcement of the EU landing obligation Publications

Monday morning blues.

Newlyn at first light with dark clouds scudding from behind Paul Hill...

most of the crabbing and netting fleet will look to get away today...

the lights are already on in award winning marine artist Tim Hall's studio...

always good to see lifeboats in berth...

looking towards St Michael's Mount heavy clouds fill the sky over the bay...

as Barry heads back in after an early start.

Safe evacuation of a fisherman from Guilvinec, at sea, 250 km from the coast.

The weather may well have played a role in the evacuation of a crew member from the French fishing vessel Alya that is currently fishing on the edge of the Continental Shelf west of Brittany.

The sailor from Guilvinec is now in hospital at the Cavale-Blanche in Brest (Finistère). He was  at sea, this Sunday, November 3, 2019 late morning, 250 km off the tip of Brittany.
A doctor at the centre of medical consultation maritime, based in Toulouse, warned the Cross Corsen (in the north-west of Brest) of the necessity to evacuate the sailor.

The man is part of the crew of five sailors aboard the Alya, a trawler 25 m of the company Scapêche, which belongs to the group of Musketeers.

He seems to be suffering from internal bleeding. His boat is more than 140 nautical miles (about 250 kilometers) west of the tip of Brittany. This forced the authorities to send the NH90 helicopter from the Lanvéoc base for evacuation and a small Faclon 50 aircraft (based at Lann Bihoué) to ensure inter alia communication between all parties involved. the sea is very difficult: the wind blows at 7 Beaufort (between 50 and 60 km / h), there is a heavy sea and the cloud ceiling is low with heavy rain.

The rescuers airlifted the patient aboard the helicopter at 11 h 08. He is  now being taken care of by staff at the Hospital of La Cavale-Blanche.

Story courtesy of L'Ouest France and the photo Maritime National

Were those French trawlers fishing or dodging inside 12 miles?

It isn't just the small boats that were forced back to port for bad weather, all but a handful of the Newlyn fleet including the biggest stern trawler in the south west were also in port...

at the same time, and an indication of just how strong the winds were in the early hours of Saturday morning, there were two large mid-water trawlers using the Isles of Scilly to provide some lee...

including the 56m Wiron 6, so to describe the French boats concerned as 'super trawlers' is a slight exaggeration - all but one were between 21-24m - the only (large) stern trawler in Newlyn is 21m - in comparison, the beam the trawl fleets from Brixham and Newlyn range from 21m to 38m...

late yesterday around fifteen of Breton trawlers were along a line roughly six miles off the coast east of Falmouth...

the VesselTracker AIS trace for each boat shows that most tracked up and down on a NE/SW course during the previous 24 hours - which is what you might expect them to do if they were dodging for weather and not fishing...

this is the AIS track for one of these boats over a 24 period from a few days earlier - when it was fishing - it shows clear variations in speed...

as this trace shows for the 21m Mor Breiz today - the spikes indicate a rise and then fall in speed as you might expect each time the trawler hauls and then shoots her net away - each haul around 4 hours apart...

 both this trace

and this one were taken during a 24 hour period yesterday while the boats were around the 6 mile limit and do not show similar regular spikes - which is what you would expect if they were just dodging up and down and not fishing...

while this trace...

and this are also taken from boats when they were fishing - clearly showing the regular spikes associated with process of hauling and shooting their trawls...

this AIS track for the Mor Breiz for the last 12 months shows just how far from and where she fishes from her home port of Le Havre...

and this is the AIS trace for the Newlyn based 21m Crystal Sea, the largest stern trawler in the south west taken over the same period of time.

Stormy day in Mounts Bay!

With bits and pieces blowing all over the harbour it didn't take long for one of the 'temporary' sheds to come down...

the ever-smiling Sheriff of Newlyn minutes before kick-off...

he who starred in this photo courtesy of the Seafarers and Shipwrecked Mariner's Society competition earlier this year...

just the one visitor sheltering for weather this morning...

as Will and Tom make fast the Lyonesse in blustery conditions with minutes to go before kick-off...

visiting Guernsey crabber Paedar Marie...

at anchor in the bay is the Trinity House boat, Stella.

Fathom: getting below the surface of the UK fishing industry.

Hot off the press! Listen to the first Fathom podcast featuring the Cornwall Fish Producer Organisation's very own Chris Ranford. Fathom podcasts will become a regular feature and add to the support the CFPO provide to the fishing industry here in the south west and beyond. A big thanks to the MMO via #EMFF and @Seafarers_UK have created the service.

We are taking you on a deep dive into the Future of Our Inshore Fisheries Conference - a hugely significant event that took place just a few weeks ago. Of course, team Fathom were there. Join us to find out what the conference meant to fishermen, and hear from Government officials on what happens next. 

Got thoughts? Get in touch @Fathom_Podcast!

Wild night of windy weather off Cornwall.

You the weather must be poor when you see the two big stern trawlers, Wiron 6 and Wiron 5 alongside a couple of french boats dodging in the lee provided by the Isles of Scilly...

even the weather buoy south of Plymouth harbour is showing close to 40 knot winds at 6am this morning...

while wind data from the Sevenstones Lightship has only just started responding again and is now headed for 50 knots, when an area of low pressure passes over the south west, the barometric pressure decreases and the wind increases...

as the WindyTV weather animation shows, the worst is about to pass...

just as well with 45knot winds indicated (that's around 50mph) which is keeping all the Newlyn fleet safely tucked up in the harbour - gusts up to 60mph have been reported al over the west of Cornwall...

not so lucky are these guys, 19 Breton trawlers and crabbers all still fishing or dodging - some of whom are east side of the Lizard between Falmouth and the Dodman Point which helps to cut down rise and fall of the heavy westerly Atlantic swell...

not so many years ago, Newlyn and other Cornish ports would be full of these hardy Breton trawlermen in their then slightly smaller (18m) boats - but it seems these days that the extra 3 or 4m in length many of their boats now have makes all the difference between fishing or dodging in poor weather and having to make for a port of refuge!