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.
After a week of gales and strong winds heavy skies still hang over Newlyn and there are still boats between trips tied up, three Rowse crabbers...
half a dozen beam trawlers are yet to sail...
though throughout most of the week the sardine fleet have been able to put in quick trips taking advantage of the prevailing offshore wind including the Vesta who, until December was fishing away up in Fowey...
with a heavy swell in the bay taking a haul of 16-17 tons reduces any risks...
fish are brailed from her three seawater tanks, chilled with ice...
dropped into 400kg insulated tubs...
where more seawater and ice are added...
earlier in the week we were treated to episode 2 of This Fishing Life on BBC2 which focused entirely on the sardine fleet and the Cornish Sardine Management Association's trials and tribulations as they struggled with a reduced TAC imposed on them by the MSC...
though according to the Mayflower's skipper Pete Buckland, with a wry smile on his face, it's as much about the size of your gonads...
which, like the size of the fish marks on your sonar, as big as they are, if you haven't got them, you won't catch them...
as the port's youngest skipper James Roberts was finding out the hard way at the start of his first season as skipper of Ocean Fish's smallest boat in the fleet, the Resolute...
with many nights spent staring intently at the sonar screen and ever more elusive shoals of sardines...
eventually, after much perseverance and little to show for his efforts in the bank, him and his crew eventually began to get to grips with the ancient art of ring-netting...
and by the end of the season was making decent hauls of sardines...
and even anchovies. So far the series has brought into people's living rooms the reality of operating and lives of those fishing in Cornwall and just what it takes to make a living sufficient to keep the boat at sea and a roof over the family's heads. Particular credit must go to the camera work which has really given viewers the chance to feel as though they were in the wheelhouse anxiously staring at the fish-finding screens or amongst the gannets wheeling high over the boats as they shoot their nets. Roll on the episode 3!
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered on 7th January 2020
Plymouth MP Luke Pollard asked Camborne and Redruth MP, George Eustace in a written question how much the Under10m catch reporting app had cost the Department. He replied that £1.8 million was the eye-watering amount! Just up the road in St Austell and Newquay and the next constituency to George Eustace, Graham Murt brother of a Newquay fisherman developed a very similar app so that fishermen could report their shellfish catches to the MMO. There's a fair chance that neither the fishermen nor his brother had anything like £1.8 million to spend on developing their app - more like £80! Information about the new million pound-plus app from the MMO is here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/record-your-catch Alternatively, you can investigate this free catch recording app from Newquay here: https://icatchsite.wordpress.com/ We live in a strange world at times.
With a persistent limelight on our sea fisheries and marine environment, the emergence of new technologies, climate impacts, and a growing understanding of the role fishers, scientists and communities play in fisheries management – we’re at a pivotal moment for Scottish seafood. FIS believes that innovation is the key to releasing the untapped potential for greater prosperity and sustainability in Scotland’s seafood industry. Our conference is an opportunity for the industry – and partners – to not only showcase what innovation in fisheries and other sectors can achieve but also to tease out fresh ideas to make the greatest change for our industry and the people driving it. What you can expect from the conference: Over the two full conference days, you can expect lots of opportunities to contribute, with discussions designed to result in concrete actions and new projects. Day one (1st July 2020 - 11.00am - 17.00pm) will include:
‘Defining innovation’ – Ensuring we’re all working towards the same goal, we’ve asked voices from across the sector ‘what does innovation mean to you?’. From this definition, across the two days we’ll work together to deliver a vision for the fisheries of the future.
FIS Board members will take attendees on a deep-dive into FIS-commissioned projects, conducting live Q&A interviews on stage and exploring impact.
Interactive workshop-style sessions with themes including ‘Vessels of the Future’ and ‘Scotland’s vision for fisheries science’.
Dinner at the stunning Lower College Hall at the University of St Andrews.
Day two (2nd July 2020 - 09.30am - 15.30pm) will include:
Shark Tank: A Dragon’s Den for fisheries innovation. Look forwards to live pitches for innovative ideas and products from students and entrepreneurs – and a chance to have your say on the best ideas presented.
Additional plenary sessions and break-outs focusing on big issues impacting the Scottish fishing industry: your chance to be vocal on fishing safety, the business of fishing, and more.
Programme information & Logistical details
The full conference programme will be available soon. Conference registration and attendance is free and there will be a charge to cover the cost of the conference dinner. Look out for dinner tickets: on sale from February onwards. Delegates should make their own accommodation arrangements. Accommodation is widely available in St. Andrews, but we highly recommend the reasonably priced and comfortable accommodation at the University’s Agnes Blackadder Hall. If you would like to book a room, please email: agnes.blackadder@st-andrews.ac.uk. If you have any further queries about the conference, or ideas and input – please contact: harriet@mindfullywired.org
In an industry that has experienced many momentous years and critical turning points, 2020 stands to be one of the most pivotal in our history. It is now clear that the delays and confusions, primarily caused by the absence of a government majority in Parliament, are now behind us and the UK will formally leave the EU on 31st January 2020. We will enter an 11month transition phase, during which negotiations will take place on the future economic and political relationship between the UK and the EU. The aim is to agree a framework EU/UK fisheries agreement by the end of July 2020. Both the UK and EU have made extensive preparations for these negotiations. Scenario planning for multiple eventualities can now be replaced by a single-minded focus on arrangements that will secure a future for the UK as an independent coastal state outside the EU and outside the Common Fisheries Policy. Negotiations: Opening Positions Although, understandably, as we enter the negotiations, both sides are keeping their negotiating strategies close to their chests, it is possible from public statements, to see an outline of the overall shape of the forthcoming talks, and the fracture lines which will in the end determine the outcomes. In its White Paper on Fisheries, the previous government spelt out that as an independent coastal state (under UN Law of the Sea) the UK will hold sovereignty over its exclusive economic zone and the right to exploit the fisheries resources within it. The UK will control access over who is permitted to fish within UK waters, and under what conditions. The White Paper indicates that the Government will enter negotiations with the EU with the express objective of closing the gap between the fisheries resources available for harvesting that are located in UK waters, and the quota shares that it has received under the Relative Stability Principle since 1983. By contrast, the EU has said that any trade deal with the UK will be contingent on the status quo on access arrangements and quota shares. It will seek to bind the UK into a long-term agreement which replicates the Common Fisheries Policy as closely as possible. The two parties therefore enter the negotiations holding polar opposite positions. Radical change versus status quo. Negotiating leverage will take legal, moral, scientific and political forms but both parties are required by UNCLOS to cooperate on the sustainable harvesting of shared stocks, so there will also be limits on the room to manoeuvre. Both the UK and the EU have staked their reputations on maintaining the highest standards in terms of sustainable fisheries management. Failure to reach agreement could potentially set up tensions that could only lead to both parties being losers. It is something of an understatement that both parties have a lot at stake. Withdrawal Agreement The starting point and context for the negotiations for a framework agreement on fisheries will be the provisions of the UK/EU Withdrawal Agreement. The relevant parts of the Withdrawal Agreement for fisheries: Accept that after the transition period, the UK will have regulatory autonomy over the exploitation of the resources within its EEZ, and that after the UK fully leaves the EU there will be no automatic right of access to fish in each other’s waters Points towards a UK/EU fisheries agreement, as part of a wider agreement of a future political and economic relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom Spells out that the UK will not participate in any EU decision-making fora during the transition period, but will be “consulted” during the annual quota setting round (this clause is now less significant than it was previously because with a shorter transition period than earlier envisaged, the UK will negotiate quotas for 2021 as and independent party) It is worth recalling that when Terresa May’s original Withdrawal Agreement was settled, towards the end of the negotiations, there were two outstanding issues: one was Gibraltar, the other was fishing rights. This gives some sense of the political significance of the fishing issue for both the UK and the EU. Norway Norway has a significance in all of this as:
A relevant party where it too shares stocks that are exploited by the UK and EU fleets
A precedent and model for a long-term fisheries agreement between the EU and a Third Country with shared stocks and joint management arrangements.
The annual EU/Norway fisheries agreements have provided a largely successful model for cooperation on fisheries which has been in place for over 40 years. There are five essential components to the annual reciprocal agreements:
Joint management of key stocks: TAC setting, with ICES scientific advice as the starting point
Access arrangements, which allow fleets to fish in each other’s waters
Quota Sharing based on the principle of Zonal Attachment
Quota exchanges (of unutilised quota)
Regulatory autonomy in the party’s respective zones
Notwithstanding the EU’s largely successful fisheries relationship with Norway over 40 years, we can expect that the EU/Norway model will be anathema to the EU in the context of a future EU/UK fisheries relationship. The EU will argue that the EU/Norway agreement covers far fewer stocks than would require joint management between the EU and UK, and so is not appropriate. The UK will say that the EU’s position reflects the fact that the EU’s relationship with the UK under the CFP has been asymmetrical and exploitative, and that the EU wants to maintain this uneven relationship. By contrast, the EU/Norway fisheries agreement is balanced – in the sense that both parties benefit more-or-less equally from the arrangement. The UK will argue that therefore the current EU/Norway agreement and a relevant and pertinent reference point. Leaving it All Behind Whilst all remains to be fought for in terms of the UK and EU’s future relationship on fisheries, some things are already clear. After the transition period, the UK will have regulatory autonomy. This means that the decisions, regulations, and directives of the Commission, Council of Ministers and European Parliament, will no longer have any direct relevance to the fisheries which take place in UK waters. Most CFP fisheries legislation will be initially retained and incorporated into UK law to avoid any legal vacuum, but the Fisheries Bill, which should shortly pass through Parliament unimpeded, will provide the scope to amend and adapt these statutes to meet the UK’s purposes. The relative powerlessness over fishing in its own waters, that has been the UK’s fate under the CFP, will end. In particular, the European Parliament’s baleful influence over fisheries policy will come to an abrupt halt. The Commission will still be required to seek negotiating mandates from the Council and European Parliament but where, for example in the North Sea, the EU will control less than 20% of the sea area and a minority of the stocks, its legal or political sway will be much reduced in negotiations with third countries. Adjustments to the UK version of the EU landing obligation to transition from an untenable to a workable set of arrangements can be expected to be high on the list of measures for early revision. 1973 Revisited? The scene is set for a dramatic trial of strength. Both sides have an interest in securing a trade deal which minimises trade frictions. The shape of that deal is the issue at hand. The UK Government has insisted that the new arrangements must be agreed in time for the UK to leave the EU at the end of the transition period in December 2020. This short timeframe makes the negotiation of a comprehensive trade deal less likely. A less ambitious deal, with much to be agreed in future negotiations seems, at present, the most likely outcome. The EU may have the strongest hand of cards to play on trade because of the sheer size of its economy. On fishing, the situation is reversed. EU fleets fish around six times as much in UK waters as UK vessels fish in EU waters. To continue to access those waters concessions by the EU will be required. The UK has made clear that a rebalancing of quota shares to a fairer equilibrium will be the price of access. And that access will be subject to conditions – as any fleet fishing in third country waters would be. Many businesses in the supply chain on both sides of the Channel depend on the trade in fish and shellfish, so from an economic perspective, both the UK and EU have a deep interest in smooth and unimpeded trade arrangements. This is particularly true of fresh and live fish where the transit times are of critical importance. The question is to what extent this trade will become a political hostage over fishing rights, and what effect of short term disruptions to trade could have. Should trade talks fail for any reason, the UK could be forced to trade on WTO terms, which would be far from ideal – but also is very far from no trade at all. One only needs to glance at the massive trade in fisheries products between Iceland and the UK, and how quickly that was re-established after the cod wars of the 1970s, to understand that disputes over fishing rights have little long term impact on trade. In the access negotiations when the UK applied to join the then European Economic Community in 1973, a conscious decision was taken on the UK side to sacrifice the UK fishing industry to secure other national political and economic objectives. The legacy of this decision has been to deny the UK the benefits of independent coastal state status for over forty years. It also created a deep sense of betrayal throughout the UK fishing industry and coastal communities that has been shared by many in Parliament. That sense of grievance has not diminished with time. The optics of Brexit, in which the fishing issue has consistently been high on the list of national priorities, means Government will not want to repeat the historic betrayal of the 1970s. In this sense, fishing is an important litmus test and carries symbolic weight as well as political and economic significance. This is the reason why the UK fishing industry is confident that, whatever the negotiating challenges ahead, there will not be a repeat of 1973. Full story courtesy of the NFFO.
With storm Brendan on the way and most of the fleet in port already there's a rush to land at the market this morning...
first in the queue is the Aaltje Adriaantje...
closely followed by the record breaking...
PZ 1053, the St Georges...
and it is good to see that skipper Bill Worth has his crew suitably attired with their PFDs as they moor the boat alongside the fish market...
where the morning auction is already underway...
with a good selection of quality flats like these brill...
Dover sole...
and plaice...
and with wild weather all round the rest of the UK coast these mackerel are likely to make big money...
which will make Mr McClary a happy man, being one of the few handline boats that put in the fishing effort in poor conditions over the weekend...
these megrim soles were just some of the discards landed under the Landing Obligation regulations - Number One megrims were making £11.40 this morning, a huge price...
the one and only bass was snapped up...
as the buyers were pushed to pay ever-higher prices to meet the nationwide demand for fresh fish...
blonde ray...
red mullet...
and lemon soles all made excellent prices...
name this good-looking fish...
no sooner has the boat touched the quayside the crew set to work...
on overhauling the beam trawls and chain mats...
while the merchants get the morning's purchases back to the factory poste-haste.
