Through the Gaps! - Newlyn Fishing News Cornwall UK fish commercial fishing fish cooking and art

Wednesday, 22 January 2025

#StormÉowyn - not just any storm.

This WindyTV animation sequence for the low pressure system #StormÉowyn currently crossing the Atlantic has it deepening from 1004 millibars right now (Wednesday 19:00) and falling to 936 by midnight on Thursday.

You wouldn't want to be anywere near the Porcupine Bank west of Irelan in the next 24 hours - this VesselTracker AIS chart shows that there are plenty of mainly Spanish liners and trawlers there at the moment.

Tuesday, 21 January 2025

Fail to plan: plan to fail

NFFO Chief Executive Mike Cohen argues that we need a plan for our seas and a strategy for developing the fishing industry’s place in them.

The NFFO has been campaigning for a national strategy for fishing for some time now and the need is only becoming more apparent with every passing day.

Everyone who works at or lives by the sea has long realised that the ways that it is being used have changed fundamentally in recent years. Once, it carried goods and people, and it produced food. Now it also produces electricity; it supplies building materials; it carries our electronic communications; it gives up fossil fuels from beneath it and has carbon emissions and nuclear waste buried in their place; it is ‘conserved’; it is a playground.

As the NFFO has consistently pointed out, this transition has occurred piecemeal. The sea has become a new frontier, open for exploration and exploitation by whoever has the power to stake a claim. No strategy has underpinned this free-for-all and we have warned on numerous occasions that, if this is allowed to continue, those users of the sea without deep pockets or powerful political connections will be soon squeezed out. Fishers are firmly in this category. Despite pursuing a calling that has helped to feed the people of these islands for millennia, they must pay for a licence to pursue their livelihoods, but in doing so acquire no right to use it. Farmers can own the land they work, but fishers can’t own their fishing grounds. Our seabed is owned by the Crown Estate, which leases out portions of its property portfolio for profit. This makes it possible for others to take parts of the sea that we depend on for food production and effectively privatise them: developing that area for their own benefit, in such a way that excludes fishing.

This is happening already. The Crown Estate has recently announced plans to lease out the seabed for offshore wind farm construction. They hope to see 125 GW of new offshore electricity generating capacity leased out by 2050. At the same time, the Scottish government has plans for power stations generating up to 42 GW north of the border. Much of this new development will involve floating wind farms, which are acknowledged to be incompatible with fishing activity. At an estimated size of 250Km2 per gigawatt (and acknowledging that some existing wind farms take up significantly more space than that), this will occupy 41,750 km2 of sea space – a little under twice the area of Wales.

This represents the industrialisation of the marine environment on an almost unimaginable scale and its justification has not been made clear. In addition to this planned 167 GW of new generating capacity at sea, there are plans for 24 GW of new nuclear power generation on land and the government has already announced support for 2 GW of new solar power, with more to come. The UK currently consumes around 30 GW of electricity and is already capable of generating almost all of that domestically. Clearly, as we switch to using more electricity to heat homes and power vehicles that demand will increase, but it is surely stretching credulity to assume that it will increase by 550% in the next 26 years. No doubt the multinational energy giants – almost all non-UK corporations – that build and control the offshore power stations in UK waters will find a way to make even larger fortunes from them, but the benefit to the people of the UK is opaque, particularly when their construction may come at the cost of the UK’s marine environment, food security and coastal jobs.

Alongside the offshore construction gold rush, there are increasingly loud calls for large parts of the sea to be closed to fishing because of ‘nature’. 38% of the UK’s EEZ is already subject to some form of conservation designation. The goal of ‘nature recovery’ is cited at every turn. Even the Crown Estate uses the phase continuously – and seemingly without irony – when discussing how it plans to lease off the seabed for industrial development. There is a distinct reluctance to define terms here. ‘Recovery’ implies return to a prior condition, but what point in the past is it intended that we should reproduce? Before offshore developers started digging up the seabed? Before the age of modern shipping? Before humans used the sea at all? Whichever historical point we choose, how are we supposed to know what the marine environment was like back then, so that we know what actions to take to recover that state? Given the almost complete lack of baseline scientific surveys conducted to support the marine conservation process, we don’t even have a particularly clear idea about what the marine environment is like now.

We are doing more things in the sea now than at any time in human history, so why is it almost always just fishing that the loudest proponents of ‘nature’ want to prohibit? It all starts to look a bit performative: promoting a sense of permanent crisis, while placing the blame only on those without the money or power to defend themselves. The double standard is striking: theatrical dismay at every fishing net that skims the seabed to produce food, but seeming unconcern about the thousands of square kilometres that will be dug up, trenched and continually scoured by anchor chains to accommodate new power stations.

Contradictions like this abound. We must conserve the marine environment, yet also build power stations there that far exceed our energy needs. We will protect the security of our food supply, but restrict fishing on the shakiest of evidential foundations. We must take urgent action to combat climate change, but also restrict one of the least carbon intensive sources of dietary protein. Growth is vital and coastal communities will be supported, but we consistently privilege the demands of foreign corporations and the self-appointed and well-funded champions of undefined ‘nature’ over the economic and social wellbeing of working-class people.

If any of this was being done in pursuit of an ultimate aim, for the betterment of the UK at large, we would have no grounds for complaint. We elect parliamentarians to take decisions about the future of our nation. Very often those decisions are truly difficult. Once taken, they are very likely to bring hardship to some even as they benefit the majority. As long as such decisions are taken in full possession of the facts, however, with a clear underlying rationale and an understanding of the consequences, then – while we may not like the outcome – there can be no injustice in the process. That is emphatically not true here, however. We are drifting towards an unplanned future, where short-term thinking and empty but eye-catching slogans have benefitted the few but disadvantaged the many, while no-one takes responsibility.

We need a plan. Now.

The UK needs a national fishing strategy that will stop our industry being squeezed out of the marine space; will protect core fishing grounds and promote sustainable harvesting; will improve safety and working conditions; will support job creation; and will allow fishing to realise its potential as a core part of revitalised coastal economies. This will not be easy, but it is possible – and the benefits could be enormous.

Sunday, 19 January 2025

Fish and chip shops support Cornish fishermen

Recently, the National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF) joined the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation (CFPO) in Cornwall to explore how local, sustainable seafood can play a bigger role in fish and chip shops across the UK. This visit was part of Seafood Cornwall’s work involving cross-supply chain focus groups. A groundbreaking initiative connecting fishermen, processors, and friers to promote underused Cornish fish species like spurdog aka Cornish Rock Salmon.

The day focused on showcasing Cornwall’s vibrant seafood industry, from the bustling docks of Newlyn Harbour to the efficient processing lines at Falfish, all with one goal: getting more British-caught fish onto menus nationwide.

A market full of fish including plenty of spurdogs.

Stop 1: Newlyn Fish Market

The day began at dawn with a visit to Newlyn market, where the fish market came alive with the freshest catch from the Celtic Sea. The friers witnessed first-hand how Cornish fishermen bring in a wide variety of fish and how these are carefully sorted and auctioned.

Stop 2: Newlyn Harbour Tour

Next, the group had a tour of Newlyn Harbour, meeting with key industry stakeholders and getting an exclusive insight into Cornwall’s seafood industry. The NFFF members learned about the different types of vessels and gear used to fish sustainably in the Celtic Sea. They also got a sense of the scale and diversity of Cornwall’s seafood industry and learnt about the fleet’s gear recycling schemes.

Stop 3: Aboard a Cornish Gill Netter – Sustainable Practices in Action

The friers then boarded a traditional Cornish gill netter, which primarily targets MSC-certified Atlantic Hake. They learnt about sustainable fishing methods and discovered more about bycatch fisheries, including spurdog a sustainable species the CFPO is championing as an affordable and alternative white fish option.

Stop 4: Falfish – Processing Perfection

After a short presentation on the species, the group were invited to Falfish, a leading wholesale processing facility. Here, they saw how advanced techniques ensure peak freshness and efficiency in processing.

Stop 5: Taste Testing – Spurdog on the Plate

The day wrapped up with a taste test of spurdog, a white fish with a pink hue prior to frying. Its mild, sweet, and meaty flavour impressed the friers, who agreed to try it on their menus and pledged to serve more Cornish fish in 2025.

Why spurdog? Thanks to positive fisheries management by the Cornish fleet, spurdog is increasingly abundant. Known historically as “rock salmon,” it’s a sustainable, affordable choice for fish and chip lovers across the UK.

Join the campaign!

Be part of the movement to support local fishermen and offer more home-caught fish on your menu. For more details, resources, and merchants offering Cornish Rock Salmon, please contact charlotte@cfpo.org.uk.

End of life for the Rose of Sharon.

Photo courtesy of Gilpin Demolition

A poignant reminder of the fleeting nature of time, the once immaculate, Rose of Sharon lies in pieces on a River Dart slipway. Reduced to a pile of shattered timber, scrap metal, and a partially broken-up wheelhouse, this iconic trawler's demise marks the end of a chapter in Newlyn's maritime history.

In 1969, Forbes of Sandhaven were commissioned to build the 66ft trawler/longliner Rose of Sharon FR 23 for Ernest Stevens and his sons David, Paul and Peter. David Stevens Snr skippered the Rose of Sharon between 1971 and 1977. She was decommissioned in 2003 when she became a live aboard based on the River Dart.

The boat had been kept on a river mooring for many years but subsequently sank after being abandoned.

Photo courtesy of Gilpin Demolition

Once salvaged, she was brought to a concrete slipway by a team from Gilpin Demolition and broken up on site. More pictures from the process can be seen here.

A versatile vessel, she spent most her early years long-lining for ling, ray and pollack...

though the heydays of gigantic mackerel shoals in the late '70s saw her rigged out for mid-watering...

which included doing pelagic trials with the Kilravock for the Hull Industrial Dev Unit and the White Fish Authority...

not so sure the MCA guys would approve of her being loaded like that these days though!

In the 1980s, she and a number of other similar sized boats, better known as, 'the clan', bottom trawled for whitefish, changing gear to fish for prawns on the Smalls in the summer months.

here, she can be seen overtaking another St Ives boat, the Keriolet, both boats steaming away from Newlyn after yet another winter gale had passed through...

though not every trip ended as it should, here she is well and truly mopped-up and about to be towed back to Newlyn.

A few words from Crystal Sea skipper David Stevens, whose grandfather Ernest had the Rose of Sharon built, recalls the role the she played in his life,

"Obviously she was a big part of Alec's (brother) and my childhood. Many hours we spent in Newlyn helping Dad, Peter and the crew land and mend nets. Alec and I would fill needles and keep the tea and coffee coming, even learnt to roll a fag for Dad and Aimie (Aimie Doom - a Belgian refugee from the WWII) 😆 🤣

Both Alec and I went to sea on her from 9 years old in the summers for a few days. We'd mix it up rockhoppinp on the hard ground NW scillies to the Ship. Or, we'd shoot the clean ground net off to the southward. She really was a Swiss army knife of vessels. She did every job going and for many years did them well. She started off as a longliner come trawler. Then Dad fitted a net drum and paired up with Michael Hosking who had the Killravoc and Bobby Jewell with the Galilean?

They first went after pilchards for Shipphams then the mackerel boom started so she fished for mackerel. Uncle Paul ran her for a few years whilst Dad was beaming in Stevos He tried wreck nets, and lines, craw nets a little also. Then Dad took her again in 1983 and did mainly trawling, and later, when we bought the Crystal Sea we pair trawled for hake for a season. She was sold in 2001 for a house boat, which was a nice career end for her, kept her going for longer. She was a fine, beautiful versatile vessel."

In 2011, she re-appeared in Newlyn on passage...

now registered in Dartmouth...

and fitted out as a live aboard yacht...

the graceful lines of her canoe stern, once home to a baiting table and baskets of lines, still admired by those onlookers who came to see her.

Always sad to see a boat so full of history and people's lives go the way of the breaker's yard.

Saturday, 18 January 2025

Exploring the Gaps in UK Seafood Supply: Whay we should eat more oily fish like Cornish sardines.

Let’s Talk Sardines: Why Eating More Cornish Sardines is a Smart Choice

Recent research from the University of Aberdeen has shed light on some surprising truths about the UK’s seafood supply and its implications for our health. The study reveals that while we’re exporting a lot of nutrient-rich fish, we’re missing out on essential nutrients ourselves. As Baukje de Roos, one of the authors, notes, “The UK undergoes large losses of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, and vitamin D through international trade, most notably through exports of oily fish such as salmon, herring, and mackerel.” This is where Cornish sardines come into the picture!

The Nutrient Dilemma

The study highlights a significant issue: the UK is losing out on vital nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, and vitamin D because we’re sending so much of our seafood abroad. These nutrients are crucial for our health, and many people in the UK are not getting enough of them. By keeping more of our nutrient-dense fish for ourselves, we could really boost our public health.

Why Cornish Sardines?

Cornish sardines are a fantastic option for anyone looking to improve their diet. Not only are they packed with omega-3s and other essential nutrients, but they’re also a sustainable choice that supports local fisheries. The Cornish Sardine Management Association (CSMA) is all about promoting these little fish, which have been a staple in Cornwall for generations.

But let’s not forget about other oily fish caught in the UK, such as mackerel, herring, and pilchards. These fish are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids and can contribute significantly to our nutrient intake. By choosing a variety of locally caught oily fish, we can help fill the nutrient gaps identified in the research while supporting our local fishing communities.

Supporting Local and Sustainable Practices

Eating Cornish sardines and other oily fish isn’t just good for you; it’s good for the planet too! By opting for locally caught seafood, we can reduce our reliance on imported fish and help create a more resilient food system. The CSMA emphasizes sustainable fishing practices, ensuring that we can enjoy sardines today and for years to come.

In Conclusion

So, what’s the takeaway? The recent research from the University of Aberdeen shows that we need to rethink our seafood choices. By incorporating more Cornish sardines and other oily fish like mackerel and herring into our diets, we can enjoy delicious, nutritious food while supporting local fisheries and improving our health. Let’s make a conscious effort to choose Cornish sardines and a variety of oily fish to help bridge the nutrient gap in our diets. Together, we can make a positive impact on our health and the sustainability of our seafood systems. Let’s get sardine-savvy!

The full paper from the Rowett research team at the University of Aberdeen can be found here.