Latest Cornish ring netter nears completion.

Photo courtesy of Edwin Hosking/Ocean Fish.

Buccaneer Boats at Camborne are nearing the completion of their latest in a series of vessels built for Ocean Fish. The B46 type hull will shortly be deliverd to Newlyn where the final fitting out, including the installation of the wheelhouse, will be carried out alongside the Mary Williams quay. Full story and pictures coming soon.

Monday last day of the month, will they make a million?

Big boat, big monk......

big cuttles, big fishing for the Cornishman again........

and the Ocean Spray didn't do too bad netting either......

only a handful of blackjacks (coley or saithe) for the Gary M......

let's hope with the increased revenue from the big landings this month the harbour can afford to replace the neon tubes in the darker corners of the fish market........

fish transport at the ready alongside the Cornish Ice Company.......

plenty of harbour boxes, though the guys are still keen to know where the 400 boxes that have gone missing are now located as is Roland Ballieul from Duncannon whose box is in view!.......

one mouthful - typical seal damge where the unpopular animal contents itself with a single mouthful from the belly of the biggest fish......

cracking monk tails from an inshore boat will make good money........

running in Cornishman black cuttle ink creates all sorts of shapes.........

with dozens of her boxes still to be cleaned........

take-off time for a marauding gull.

Ex-Navy MFV and Dunkirk veteran sinks in Plymouth Harbour.

The Yarmouth Navigator seen last summer anchored in the River Dart.
Photo courtesy of Martin Johns.

Falmouth Coastguard, Brixham Coastguard, Navy and the Border Agency were all involved in a yacht sinking in Plymouth Harbour last night. Three people are believed to have left the sinking vessel, a fourth is still unaccounted for.

Saturday night - pan fried whole Newlyn crab with your own chilli sauce.

 Make your own authentic Thai chilli sauce to go with this hugely tasty crab dish, or cheat and use Nam Ploy if you must......

 some of the ingredients are easy to find in an asian shop (like Steve Chan's in Penzance).......

 but start with freshly boiled whole crab, this one courtesy of Harvey's in Newlyn.......

 to remove the 'body' section push the thumb into the mouth (this takes a bit of effort on a big crab!)......

 remove the body.......

 and pick out the full of flavour brown meat from inside the crab's shell - save for another day - add to a fish soup or stew........

 take off the dead man's fingers - they are not poisonous as such, but being the crab's gills that filter the water they live in - when crabs were taken from close inshore they could potentially become contaminated - but these crabs have come from many miles offshore - apart from anything else they have the the texture of foam rubber so why would you want to eat them?........

 crack the main leg sections with the back of a chopper or heavy knife - with practice you'll get the claws to crack across like this every time.......

 stir fry the chopped chilli, garlic and onion for the sauce.......

 three different sugars used in Asian and Indian cooking - top right, dark brown lump sugar, bottom left yellow lump sugar, top left palm sugar and crushed bottom right......

 final cook through for the chilli sauce......

 before the stick blender does the business......

 time to fry off the crab pieces for a few minutes to heat right through......

add the crab back to the cooked sauce.......

stir fry your preferred mix of veg to accompany the crab and chilli sauce.

Open invite to the fishermen of Newlyn - Monday 7th February at 2pm.

At 2pm on Monday 7th February at The Centre, Newlyn - a presentation from the Harbour Commissioners.

There's a welcome in the Combe.

Good to see the Queen's Hotel on the prom is making use of local fish and meats......

the pebbles have been neatly graded by the wave action.......

a 'flyer' of old, must have blown in from somewhere, looking ahead to this year's Sea, Salt and Sail festival in Mousehole.......

for all those who don't care about their waistline, head off to the Tolcarne Inn in Newlyn this coming  Thursday.......

young Roger Nowell steps ashore from the St Adrianne after taking ice.......

off come the doors from the Defiant.......

as the harbour sees the inshore fleet get ready for sea.......

the eponymous vegetable town is still not popular with the natives........

or anyone else it seems!

Make my monk hot.

To prepare, cut your monk fillet into good sized chunks, season with freshly ground salt 'n pepper and fineley chopped rosemary then wrap in Parma Ham and then........

transfer to a hot oiled pan to brown on both sides before popping in a pre-heated oven for around 10 minutes........

while the oven is doing it's thing, heat a glug of good olly oil with slices of onion or shallot, a couple of roasted garlic cloves (put them in the oven near the top while it is pre-heating) and a finely sliced chilli to taste - serve the monk with the hot chilli oil.

Be informed - read the MMO's latest Fishing Focus - you can't afford to ignore it!

Fishing Focus is a joint publication from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and aims to improve communications with stakeholders.

We both welcome feedback on each issue of the newsletter. If you would like to comment, please email fishingfocus@defra.gsi.gov.uk

The latest issue (winter 2011) includes:

• progress on marine conservation zones
• fishing for the markets
• illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing regulation - one year on
• December fisheries council
• Common Fisheries Policy reform
• under 10 metre pool survey
• marine planning
• European Fisheries Fund and fisheries local action groups
• catch quota trials

 Download or read the Fishing Focus here. 

Pelagic fishing west of the Scillys.

VesselTracker's AIS tracking software reveals a small number of vessels that look as though they are  chasing pelagic fish north west of the Isles of Scilly. Included in the targets picked up by the Cornish antennae is the CEFAS research vessel CEFAS Endeavour.

VesselTracker has recently begun beta testing a new version of their AIS tracking software - VesslFlow - designed for display in terminals, colleges, resource centres etc on large screens in places where viewers can track vessels live in specific port or navigation areas. Check the VesslFlow site will run in your web browser - Safari and Firefox friendly - and don't forget, you'll need to install Google Earth!

Keeping an eye on things.

No longer used by crabbers for bait, the once humble gurnard has enjoyed almost gourmet status thanks to chefs starting with Keith Floyd eulogising over the flavour of these fish - defintiely a fish for the connoisseur as they are full of bones and too fiddly to eat for many despite their superb flavour.......

lemon soles are always a firm favourite - grilled on the bone with butter and parsley - simple to cook, easy to pull the flesh from the bones after serving whole straight from the oven......

pollack are fast becoming the new cod - enjoying a real surge in sales from wholesalers since the FishFight campaign started.......

there's plenty of small octopus in with the cuttles catches, check out Italian chef Carluccio for authentic recipes for these and other cephalopods.......

bright eyes are a feature of fish freshness.......

he's on the case......

sometimes you just have to get down and give a box of fish the extra once-over.