Wednesday 22 August 2018

Tuesday night Wednesday morning


Late Tuesday evening and it's never a good sign when the trawl is up on the quay and all hand are busy with needles - luckily Tom has net-weaving-wizard Nigel on hand to help with the mending of the Harvest Reaper's trawl...


Nimrod, now into the second month of her new career crabbing for the Real Cornish Crab Company...


out on a shout...


the line-caught pollack king of Newlyn, Mr Smith powers for the gaps with his new boat, Maverick...


followed by the more sedate spectacle of the Islander with young Jamie Bacon sorting the deck out prior to landing...


Wednesday morning finds the ring-netter Asthore, just returned from chasing sardines off Mevagissey as she begins to land five tons of Mounts Bay fish caught overnight...


inside the fish auction there's around 70 boxes of Cornish hake from the netter Amanda of Ladram...


along with a wide selection of inshore trawl fish from boats like the Shiralee... 


Plugger's trip included a nice haul of prime John Dory - a favourite with Cornwall's growing number of restaurants with chefs that work exclusively with fish Like Nathan Outlaw and much closer to home, Bruce Rennie at The Shore in the centre of Penzance...


who are beginning to showcase less well known fish like these cuttlefish on their menus...


and others like megrim sole...


pollack...


and even scad, a treat for anyone who loves oily fish like mackerel, herring or sardines...


increasingly common are crawfish which seem to be making a comeback after 40 very quiet years and a far cry from the hey-day of crawfish when divers often swapped or combined working below in the early days of the fast developing North Sea oil industry with diving for craws around the Scillys or up off the coast of Wales - their story has yet to be told...


much more familiar in good fish restaurants in Cornwall are bass, the King of Fish as Floyd used to refer to them in his straightforward but oh-so useful cook book, Floyd on Fish...


there are plenty of clips online with Keith talking to the buyers on Newlyn market over the years in his groundbreaking TV series...


fresh off the press, Stevenson's have now introduced their new fish tallies for each boat in order to comply with the new fish sale regulations that now include the number of boxes and the approximate area the fish were caught...


the market this morning carried fish from the Trevessa IV...


and the St Georges...


back at the fish quay the sardines are now coming ashore form the Asthore...


and the Nimrod has taken on another string of puts to increase the size of the fleet she is working...


one of the port's regular visitors glides across the harbour...


at this time of year there is a full season of events like comedy Waiting for a Storm to be enjoyed in several venues including Penlee Theatre in the heart of Penzance...


art lovers are spoilt for choice in an area that boasts more working artists - several with works in this year's RA Summer Show - than anywhere in the UK outside London...


ex-fisherman Robert Jones captured the beam trawler St Georges alongside the quay in Newlyn and a large number of his marine works can be seen in Newlyn's Thomas Henry gallery or the Tyler Gallery in Mousehole...


a misty morning decorated with two ships anchored in the deep waters of Mounts Bay waiting for orders.