It's all about the fish - with fish in short supply owing to UK-wide poor weather for the last week prices were strong as buyers were kept busy bidding on Monday morning's market ...
plenty of line caught mackerel...
and a few interlopers too...
of the herring variety...
filled up one corner of the market with some stacks seven boxes high for each size grade of fish...
both of the beam trawlers that landed over the weekend had been working on the cuttlefish grounds...
thought that doesn't stop them from picking up prime fish like these turbot...
or even a few beautiful big bass...
and with so little fish and a big demand the porters are quick to set to clearing their buyer's purchases from the auction floor...
also ready to go are the owner's 'homers'...
prime fish are all machine graded, like these monk tails...
Dover soles...
and are kept in a separate sale area...
sometimes the labelling goes wrong...
and then right...
not that that bothers the buyers who are keen to get the best price they can for their customers, many of whom are chefs and suppliers of the best restaurants not only in Cornwall but London and beyond...
especially size Grade 2 lemons which are a perfect fit for the average diners dinner plate...
evidence that it was a black night in more ways than one with plenty of cuttlefish ink running across the quayside...
also having a long dark night was the beam trawler, St Georges which had picked something up in her propeller - necessitating a two - nearest boat being the Trevessa IN who promptly curtailed her steam to the cuttlefish grounds east of the Lizard and headed back south west to
the Trevessa shadowed the St Georges for a few miles before picking up a warp to tow her with...
the boats use about 175 fathoms of warp so that the weight of the warp dragging in the sea helps prevent it coming tight and constantly snatching thereby increasing the chances of damge to either vessel...
first light and the two boats have just become visible on the webcam...
before the Danmark is dispatched to tow her in...
along with Stevenson's tugboat, helping to guide her stern in an awkward fresh breeze...
safely in the harbour heading for a drying out berth against the quayside.