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| Francis Harris with the Guiding Light |
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| St Ives' man Andrew Stephens with Benediction |
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| Kevin Penney with the good ship Bess |
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| and last, but not least, Paul and Tony Jane aboard the Northern Star. |
What do these four Newlyn fishing boats have in common?
Nothing!
Other than the desire of their skippers to get the best possible return for their catches.
Starting with that thought over two years ago, the germs of an idea were sown in the mind of fisherman Kevin Penney, owner of the punt Bess. Subject to the vagaries of the wind, tide, weather and no amount of other variables, the lot of the inshore fisherman - as Monty Halls found out - is not an easy one!
With the aim of finding an outlet for the very best quality fish landed in the port, Kevin was determined to find some way of putting buyers directly in touch with his boat and avail themselves of what he caught that day within hours of it being landed. Two years down the road, after the realisation that social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have now become ubiquitous tools not just the preserve of self-obsessed teenagers or university students determined to track down the latest good party, that idea is now up and running in the guise of Dreckly Fish!
"At present, the service works like this, in Kevin's words. At first light, out fishing, back in (with fish hopefully), let people know you are going to hold an auction (done on the way back in), a quick photo or two of the catch, post photos up (Ah the iPhone5, my precious!) start auction at 11 to finish at 12 (hopefully sell catch) box up, stick a label on it and call up the courier company (who is used by every fishmonger in Newlyn), job done!"
"Our main focus is on shellfish from the months of April through to the end of September where we concentrate our efforts on catching Lobster, Brown Crab and Spider Crab.
In Cornwall we have a self imposed scheme of only landing shellfish with a higher minimum landing size than in any other part of the country. This is to protect the breading stock and ensure a healthy future for the fishery. Being part of the Responsible Fishing Scheme all our lobsters will now be tagged when landed!
Our main method of catching our target fish is by handline, which is a common practice all around the South West coast of the UK. Again this form of fishing has very little to no environmental impact on the fishery, with virtually no by-catch and under sized fish being returned back to the sea alive. All fish caught are placed, straight away, into insulated boxes with ice maintaining its freshness and quality."
Undoubtedly, local fish merchants will be keeping a weather eye on these pioneers of the free market economy - if only to see the public's response.
To join the online auction, anyone intending to buy Drecly Fish should first visit the web site and read up on the scheme and how it works.
It is straightforward enough. Potential bidders register their interest via a simple online form and follow the Dreckly Auction's public Twitter account @drecklyfish.
Fish is picked up and delivered straight to the customers door via a local courier company.