Busy port with landings - all on the AIS.

The AIS from VesselTracker accurately displays the boats that are against the quays in the harbour. Showing up for the first time are the beamers from the Nowell fleet, Nellie and Elizabeth N.

Snow of sorts.

For a short time the world went white......

so keeping on the move was an imperative, although it was probably warmer inside the market than out......

big men in the world of bass discuss tactics.......

the most tropical looking of north atlantic fish courtesy of the Ben My Chree........

Roger's new command has been out chasing his favourite JDs........

DNA sampling, more to come on this story soon......

keep that hot chocolate hot........

more green boxes of black to wash.

Messin' about in a boat - not always a good idea.

Three lucky teenagers were found drifting by a New Zealand fishing boat in an eleven ft 'tinnie' after being blown 1100 kilomtres from their home island of Tokelau, 30 miles north of Samoa in the Pacific.

Mitch Tonks' iPhone app for fish lovers everywhere.

How to prepare a squid for cooking - here's an example of one of the many helpful videos to be found in the app.

Sou'West chef Mitch Tonks loves his razor shells and lives at the razor edge of new technology - for all those with mobile hones capable of running iPhone apps he's just launched the fish fancier's guide to chosing, preparing and picking the right recipes with fish.

Download the app from an iTunes store near you!

Weather watching with Windfinder.

As the winter begins to deliver increasingly inclement weather it might be a good idea to explore some of the more indepth tools available from the guys at Windfinder that feed weather data to the Through the Gaps home page.

Clicking on the super forecast link will bring up a forecast for the next three days - like this. 

Local wind: Just above the data you'll see a link that says Google Map - clicking on this will bring up a maplet of Cornwall including the Isles of Scilly - and dotted all over the maplet are individual weather station data feeds giving the live windspeed - very useful for ascertaining just how fickle the local winds around the coast might be at a given moment.

Regional wind: Clicking on the forecast link gives a wind chart that covers the entire south west, including Wales and the Englsih Channel - the chart is colour coded and uses the standard wind symbol to indicate the wind speed in knots.

Azur at the ice.

Sign of the time of year, best quality scad headed the Smarts way......

even the rays get a second look from the William Stevenson.........

after putting ashore a dozen tubs of cuttles its time for the Sapphire to go through the gear and take on fuel in readiness for the next trip......

seems the weather is still holding up the survey work as the Meridian is back against the quay.......

and there's plenty of gear to go through........

alongside the ice works is the big stern dragger from St Malo, the Azur........

enjoying a quick smoko in the stern, its good to see a young face in the crew .......

on call early this morning was Mr Munson........

the prom is still festooned with lights, one good blow would see the end of them no doubt!

Sandy Cove MkII.

Fresh plans to develop Sandy Cove (where Harvey's Shellfish tanks are) have been put on the table again. The ground is owned by the Harbour Trust and they have been in talks with Edward Iliffe from MDL, the same people who are hoping to turn Penlee Quarry into a huge marina complex. The new plans may resemble the original concept as can be seen here on the Fish Industry forum site.

FishFight's on!

Hugh's FishFight continues to attract attention - especially after his cook in in front of the House of Commons. There are some interesting comments on the RiverCottage blog.

It will be as well to be mindful of just what impact this fight being brought to the attention of the public will have on all the parties concerned as it has come via a significant TV food personality with a track record of tenaciously tracking down those responsible for making ehtically and environmentally challenging decisions - remeber his free range chicken fight taken to the big supermarkets?

The response added to a post on the Independent's blog makes for interesting reading.

Ray's rays raise good prices.

Line at the ready........

calm enough this morning inside the harbour........

with plenty of cuttles gracing the market floor.......

and a good run of ray........

in top condition........

along with these very bright looking gurnards for the beamers.

Busy buyers buy best bass for big bucks.

Evidence of the damage the local seal population can inflict on fish caught in nets was evident on the market this morning.....

nearly 30 kilos of good monk tails with bite-sized chunks missing......

not that that deterred the buyers from snapping up a market full of quality fish......

like this box length bass.......

with plenty more in the medium size range all loooking like they are London bound.......

at the other end of the market the Lisa Jacqueline's shot of cuttles made good money.....

down the quay, the Govenek of Ladram lays outside the St Georges which is currently waiting for a replacement flexible coupling twixt the main engine and gearbox.......

there are still some of Barrie Briscoe's sketches up for grabs at Badcock's gallery........

while Newlyn Design Centre has all the apparel needed to kit out your favourite skipper.......

looks like the beach clean was a success at the weekend.......

and with the wind likely to hang around an easterly direction this week the shoreline should stay reasonably clear.

Beachcombers wanted.

 The professionals are on the case after another freshy night on the prom.......

 still at work first thing.......

 over to the volunteers on Sunday to do their bit tidying up the shoreline....... 

 new wire for the new trawler in town......

 the harbour is looking to pioneer an environmentally friendly fender system, just as well as at the moment the worms are having a feast.......

 this is what the fenders look like before the worms get the munchies........

 no rush at the weekend......

 he wishes!..........

 looks like Reg Perrin's missus has been on the beach........

 decorated by some stray weed overnight.........

 those dredges give the hull a severe beating on the scalloper Jacoba necessitating replacement plate work.......

some one's got to get their feet wet and scrape the weed and barnacles off the tug!

Treasure hunter off the Scillies.

It seems that the world's most successful gold digger continues to scour the waters of the Western Approaches.

Hugh's campaign attracts nearly 30,000 signatories.

Conservation minded chef and food campaigner, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's FishFight campaign, designed to draw attention to the waste issue surrounding discarded fish at sea in time for the annual EU quota carve-up has attracted nearly 30,000 signatures in a couple of days. All the national papers have run stories and managed to come up with some unusual figures - in the Independent's article one reader makes sense of the more likely figure of many millions of fish being discarded than the quoted 1 million!

Avon Valley, on passage and then towed to Newlyn.

At 1940, lat night the 12m metre wooden fishing vessel Avon Valley contacted Falmouth Coastguard and alerted them that she was taking water. The boat was on passage from Falmouth to Milford Haven in Wales. FCG tasked both Sennen and Penlee lifeboats to assist, with Rescue 193 on standby at Culdrose. The two men aboard the sinking vessel were able to take a pump from the Sennen lifeboat to help stem the flow of water to the fishroom. Penlee lifeboat then took the vessel in tow back to Newlyn.

Mevagissey - high water came early for some.

Height of the floods looking into the square in Mevagissey yesterday.