Brittany's fishing ports are struggling with the health crisis

Landings in the seven fishing ports of Cornouaille (or Brittany as we know it in the UK), including that of Guilvinec, the third French fishing port, fell by nearly 12% in value in 2020 due to the health crisis, announced Monday the metropolitan CCI Bretagne Ouest (CCIMBO ) who manages it. 

The total landings under auction and non-auction reached 46,313 tonnes in 2020, down 5.07% to a value of 124 million euros, down 11.8%.

"These bad figures are the result of the health crisis linked to Covid-19 but also of the very bad weather conditions of the first three months of the year.`'

Christophe Hamel, auction manager of the CCIMBO Quimper. 

Closure of restaurants and borders: fishing is toast!

"Deep-sea fishing is the big loser this year," said Christophe Hamel during a press conference. Landings from this fishery fell by 19.4% in tonnage and 23.2% in value due in particular to the closure of restaurants and borders.

Le Guilvinec in retreat, Douarnenez at the top!

Landings at Guilvinec fell by 16.23% in tonnage and 17.63% in value due to the difficulties encountered by deep-sea fishing which represents 80% of the port's activity.

On the other hand, Douarnenez achieves “its best year for 20 years” , according to Christophe Hamel. In particular, sardine landings were very important (9,256 tonnes, compared to 5,499 in 2019). Landings there increased by 46.01% in tonnage and 10.47% in value.

The CCIMBO manages the seven fishing ports of Cornouaille which are Audierne, Concarneau, Douarnenez, Le Guilvinec, Loctudy, Penmarc'h and Lesconil.

They represent 21% of French fresh fish and 45% of Breton fresh fish . Le Guilvinec is the third French fishing port for all species and the first in artisanal fishing (coastal and small-scale fishing)

Full story courtesy of France3 - Brittany.

A dark Monday morning in Newlyn. RIP Ian Jebbert.

A dark start to the week...

one made all the darker knowing that fish porter, cyclist and fanatical sea-angler Ian Jebbert, whose long-standing presence on on every early morning fish market never went unnoticed had succumbed to a long-term illness over the weekend - thoughts with family and friends...

with this amount of fish stacked all over the place waiting to be sold on Monday morning's market Ian's presence would have undoubtedly have made itself felt to all and sundry - it's been that much more quiet ever since he was signed off many, many months ago...

not only would Ian have found something to curse  he would have empathised with the netters all of whom are complaining that everywhere they shoot the ground is plastered with dogfish - and only six vessels have a special derogation to land 360 stones (2 tons) of dogs a month in a programme supervised by Cefas...

other netters landed good shots of monk tails...

rays...

and even some spiders...

along with a few boxes of pollack...

and pouting...

the Silver Dawn put ashore a slack shot of hake

and a few ling...

while the bigger inshore trawlers braved the weather and pulled up some decent hauls of ray...

you can see what this one had for breakfast...

haddock are never off the menu at Newlyn...

more ray wings...

and monk tails...

the netterBritannia V picked up plenty of pollack...

while some of the handliners in both St Ives and Mounts Bay had decent shots of mackerel...

and one boat fishing further off struck lucky on the bass...

though the Butts wasn't amongst them this time...

there were even a few scad mixing it up amongst the mackerel...

the two part trips from the beam trawler trips produced plenty of bait for the crabbers...

pristine handlined mackerel...

monk heads for bait anyone?..

most of the netting fleet are now back in port...

while the crabber Emma Louise lands...

on the Mary Williams pier...

into the back of the vivier lorry...

as the sun makes a brave attempt at pushing above the low bank of cloud in the bay...

there's more than a days work on what's left of this trawl...

the hake netter Ajax dwarfs the netter Britannia V

Sapphire III all fiddy after landing her first trip of 2021...

looks like the sun won't be acting as a source of heat for a while this morning...

 so it's two flask's to keep young Edwin going as he has been hard at since 9pm last night and there is still much to do.

Marine Scotland accused of destroying thousands of Scottish fishing jobs.

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Marine Scotland has been accused of allowing 'an environmental disaster' 

MARINE Scotland has been accused of allowing “an environmental disaster” by mismanaging fishing and refusing to exclude trawlers from inshore areas where fishermen catch prawns and langoustines.

A report, due to be released on January 11 by the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation (SCFF) – and seen by The Ferret – says that Marine Scotland’s oversight of the inshore prawn sector has also destroyed thousands of Scottish jobs.

The SCFF also claims the public body tasked with overseeing Scotland’s fisheries is “partisan in support of Nephrops [prawn and langoustine] trawler interests” and has misled the general public over prawn fishing.

The SCFF report – Marine Scotland’s Mismanagement of Scotland’s Inshore Nephrops Fishery – calls for a ban on trawlers from areas that could be profitably exploited by creelers.

“In other words, the exclusion of all Nephrops trawlers from all creel areas,” the SCFF says. It is calling for a three-mile limit to be reintroduced to prevent trawling in inshore waters off the west coast of Scotland.

The restriction existed for about a century and was only lifted to allow inshore trawling – now, mainly for prawns – in 1984. The SCFF has claimed the reinstatement of the limit would lead to 450 additional creel boats and more than 700 new jobs.

But other fishing organisations dispute these claims. The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation said there is “no evidence” that a three-mile limit banning trawlers would improve sustainability or raise earnings in the creel fleet.

It was backed by the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association (SWFPA) which said a 2017 report into the prawn sector concluded that all sectors of the fishing industry played a part “in sustaining the coastal communities through production of Scottish Nephrops”.

READ MORE: Brexit trade deal will lead to less quota for Scotland's fishing industry

The Scottish Government, on behalf of Marine Scotland, said it was committed to supporting the Scottish sector and had established a new working group in November.

But the SCFF’s report says live prawns and lobsters, known in the industry as Nephrops, are a “high quality Scottish ambassadorial product” which is “by far” the most important for the inshore sector.

Both trawlers and creel boats target prawns. Creel fishing involves laying dozens of pots on the seabed and collecting the catch later. Creel fishermen export virtually all of their catch still alive, mostly to Europe.

Trawlers drag a weighted net to disturb seabed sediment and herd langoustine into the net, as well as other non-target species.

The report says trawlers land whole, dead Nephrops which sell for around £5000 per tonne. The SCFF claims creeling is “artisanal, producing a high-value product” and the quayside liveweight price of around £13,000 per tonne reflects this.

It says trawling is an industrialised activity delivering a “product of much lesser value”. The greater part of the trawl is so damaged only their tails are kept, the report says. The remaining body parts, accounting for two thirds by weight, are dumped at sea.

“Tails sell for around £5250 per tonne, so the price per tonne of tails actually killed – the liveweight price – is £1750,” the report adds.

“Trawlers catch nearly 90% of Scottish Nephrops. Marine Scotland seems surprisingly unconcerned about a substantial proportion of a valuable Scottish natural resource being sold for £1750 per liveweight tonne (as Nephrops tails) or £5000 (as whole Nephrops), instead of £13,000 (as live langoustines).”

The report adds: “With prevailing prices and costs, each tonne caught by trawlers rather than creelers is resulting in fewer Scottish vessels, fewer Scottish crew jobs, less industry profits, less vibrant coastal communities and reduced supply of a Scottish ambassadorial export product.”

The longstanding tensions at sea between trawlers and creelers are also highlighted in the report. Some creel fishermen have claimed equipment has been damaged as a result of gear conflict.

SCFF says that Marine Scotland largely adopts a “hands-off” approach leaving fishermen to compete for seabed access.

SCFF says this means trawlers have a “trump card” in what it describes as a “capricious access system” because they can tow away creels.

Creel vessels have no countervailing threat, the report says, claiming that trawlers can operate a form of “de facto area management serving their best interests”.

Last year the SCFF mounted a legal challenge to Marine Scotland over its rejection of a proposal for a creel only pilot fishery in the Inner Sound off Skye.

Its new report cites the ongoing judicial review and says: “Marine Scotland is not just refusing to consider excluding all trawlers from all creel areas, it is refusing to consider excluding any trawler from any creel area. In fact, Marine Scotland is not even willing to consider a creel only pilot study.”

The SCFF also accuses Marine Scotland of failing to complete promised research and of using “incoherent results to mislead both the public and Scottish Ministers about the merits of the status quo”.

Creels and trawls cannot simultaneously exploit the same seabed area, SCFF argues. It says that “creel only areas are the only sensible option”.

Alistair Sinclair, national co-ordinator for the SCFF, told The Ferret “change must occur” to secure the future of Scotland’s inshore fishery and marine coastal environment.

He said: “Communities have relied on healthy and vibrant seas to provide security of employment and the economic well-being of their populations. Regional inshore fishery groups must be given statutory powers to ensure that overfishing ceases. They must also display more balance in their participants and fishery sectors than exists at present.”

Commenting on the Scottish Government’s recently published fisheries management strategy, he said it “looks promising on paper” but presents a “re-hashing of tired and failed policy”.

Sinclair continued: “Without backbone and a willingness to move from the status quo – in other words create the necessary change – they will fail the Scottish people wherever they exist to more abject failure. A once renowned opportunity lost.”

Regarding the marine environment, the SCFF says trawlers dragging heavy gear along the seabed does enormous damage to “important complex habitats”.

The report says: “Depending on the nature of the seabed, dragging trawls, particularly multi-trawls with large clump weights, can smooth the seafloor, and destroy, remove or bury plant epifauna.

“The reduced geodiversity and increased plant organism mortality adversely affects the habitat for juvenile finfish and shellfish. It is beyond doubt that creeling causes much less habitat damage.”

READ MORE: Scottish seafood industry still dealing with Tory Brexit chaos

The report comes as fishermen face mounting problems due to Brexit.

Scottish trawlermen have been told to catch fewer fish after new Brexit red tape caused long delays exporting their catch to the EU. Fish exporters said their businesses could become unviable after the introduction of health certificates, customs declarations and other paperwork added days to their delivery times.

The SCFF was backed by campaign group Open Seas. Its spokesperson Nick Underdown said: “This problem has its roots in a decision back in the 1980s to deregulate our inshore fisheries. People across Scotland are now waking up to this and as Scottish Government now consults on fishing policy, it’s time this historical wrong was righted.

“The government is already having to bail out fisheries due to the pressures of Covid and Brexit, but this money is being given away to prop up a failing system that is not yielding for Scotland.

“We could instead be using the post-Brexit opportunity to incentivise changes that will help fix our broken fisheries system. The first step is to rebuild fish populations by reinstating an inshore limit on bottom-trawling.”

However Mike Park of the SWFPA said: “We would highlight that, following a series of unfounded claims made by various groups, including the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation, Anderson Solutions conducted a comprehensive analysis of Scotland’s £80m Nephrops sector – which is the biggest in the world – examining quota, weight and value of landings, and employment.

“The report concluded that the competitiveness of the different fleet segments in Scotland is relatively well-balanced, with all sectors playing a part in sustaining the coastal communities through production of Scottish Nephrops.”

The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) said there was “no evidence” that a three-mile limit around Scotland’s coastline banning fishing vessels with mobile gear would “improve sustainability or raise earnings in the creel fleet”.

SFF policy officer Malcolm Morrison said that all fishing methods will impact on the environment in some way “just as navigation, tourism, offshore energy generation or even just weather do”.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are committed to supporting the industry – not least through the incredible challenges brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our Future Fisheries Management Strategy sets out exciting policy initiatives for the next ten years, including for inshore fisheries, that will help protect the environment, strengthen local communities and support a strong, sustainable, and resilient fishing industry in Scotland.

“This latest SCFF report covers a wide range of points, many of which have been made before, on which Scottish Government economists have provided extensive feedback, in relation to the research and methodology used.”

Full story courtesy of by Billy Briggs writing for The Ferret 

The Ferret is an editorially independent, not-for-profit co-operative run by its journalists and subscribers. You can find it at https://theferret.scot/ and can subscribe for £3 a month here: https://theferret.scot/subscribe/

Hake is the new cod! Let's hope the Daily Mail is right.

With many Cornish fishermen undoubtedly disappointed at the result of the Brexit deal which has left some wondering if they are now worse off than when we were members of the EU abiding by the strictures of the Common Fisheries Policy there may be some good news on the way.  The Daily Mail has carried a story citing hake as an alternative to cod for the traditional fish and chip shop supper!

Despite and in-spite of the huge changes made to sustainable fishing practices in the North Sea, cod became the poster fish for the FishFight campaign started by chef High Fearnely-Whittingstall which eventually led to the well intentioned but disastrous 'nil discard' regulations. The campaign, while it garnered huge public support, made little sense in practical terms. The majority of vessels targeting white fish in the North Sea had already made huge changes to their working practices with gear and other modifications helping to significantly reduce discards. The biggest issue - and still is - is that fish are unaware of the 'nil-discards' regulations and are therefore still caught by trawl and net. Unlike farmers, fishermen using trawl and nets by-and-large don't have the luxury of being able to predict what they harvest - the seabed is not delineated in the way that fields of crops are nor have fish read the latest MMO landing regulations. In the North Sea hake are one of the top 'choke' species that through the law of unintended consequences that has seen the move to ensure 'nil-discards' deemed unworkable in many areas.

Fast forward the last ten years and it seems that the Cornish netter fleet are now ideally placed to help supply the nations with an equally healthy and sustainable alternative to cod for that fish supper.

Cornish hake were certified by the MSC in 2015 with 15 vessels licensed to catch this superb eating fish much loved by top UK chefs like Nathan Outlaw, Paul Aisnworth, Rick Stein, Galton Blackstone, Tom Brown and many others who often use hake in their dishes on TV cooking shows.

Today, young Ryan Davey, skipper of the netter Stelissa (please note Daily Mail - hake are caught by gill nets not trawlers - there's a huge difference Ed) is one of the fleet currently at sea fishing for hake.

If, it was all about 'Sovereignty', what happened?

This extract from a ByLine Times piece by Jonathan Lis 5 January 2021:

"In Its Search for Sovereignty, Britain has Defaulted to a Dangerous Sovereign"  

Yesterday, CFPO CEO Paul Trebilcock featured on @BBCCornwall about the disappointment Cornish fishermen feel about the 'FishingDeal'. The programme Afternoons on BBC Radio Cornwall also talks to Falmouth MP Cherlilyn Mackrory whose husband is a fisherman. Later this week the show is due to talk with another champion of Brexit, South East Cornwall MP Sheryl Murray - an ardent Brexit supporter who promised Cornish fishermen in the last General Election that Brexit meant we would 'take back control' - and now, like every other Cornish Conservative politician are now faced with having to explain exactly what that means.

“What was delivered is a massive disappointment.. politicians tried to dress that up as a good deal for fishing.” Paul Trebilcock CFPO CEO.

Listen here:

The CFPO represents over 150 Cornish fishing vessels.

Should the public sector be encouraged to buy British food?

This will be well worth tuning into:

By now, many people will appreciate that most of what we eat by way of fish is imported and most of what we catch is exported. In the last 10 years, for some species (like hake) this situation has been changing and more consumed here in the UK. THIS has real relevance to the fishing industry here in the UK today given that Seafish couldn't readily answer the simple question, "How many wet fish outlets are there in the UK?" at the start of the last lockdown.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee is to hold the final evidence session of its inquiry into Public Sector Procurement of Food.

Watch Parliament TV: Public sector procurement of food 

Inquiry: Public Sector Procurement of Food Environment 

Food and Rural Affairs Committee 

Purpose of the session

The Committee will question Defra Under-Secretary Victoria Prentis on topics including how public bodies can procure food in ways that support small businesses, healthy eating, animal welfare and environmental outcomes. The session will also cover whether the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering (GBSF) need updating and possible changes to public procurement following the end of the transition period.

Witnesses: Tuesday 12 January at 3.30pm

• Victoria Prentis MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). 

Are you having any problems exporting fish to the EU?

 

There seems to be some issues creating problems for exporters of fish that means consignments aren't even getting to go across the channel. This post is to allow exporters to comment and share experiences. I’m hoping by sharing the problems individuals are having you can help isolate issues that may just be one offs rather than actual systems issues and share best practice for work arounds until the Government find a fix.

Some of the issues are around incorrect codes on the export database. For instance, plaice has/had the incorrect applied.

The gov.uk website lacks any specific information so for the moment it is a case of having to help ourselves. Please add your thoughts or identify problems or solutions in the comments box below - especially if you have found workaround for problems that may then help others. 

What you’ll need Once the service is available, to create a UK catch certificate, you’ll need: 

• a Government Gateway user ID and password
• the company name and address of the exporter
• the name of the person responsible for the exporter
• the species (or Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) code)
• it’s state and it’s presentation
• the names or Port Letters and Numbers (PLNs) of the vessels that caught the species
• the landing dates for each species
• the export weights of each product
• to specify whose waters the species were caught in - the FAO area
• transport details for how the export will leave the UK and where it will leave from
• the identification numbers of the containers used to export the product (if applicable)

For issues related to Catch Certificates please contact this number

For the latest export information from the Government link here.