At 6am it's a dark enough start to the mornings in October but that doesn't stop the business of fishing which goes on 24/7 in a port like Newlyn...
Of course hake isn't the only fish...
the netter Britannia V landed on the market this morning...
amongst the rest of the fish landed were a dozen or so monk cheeks...
and a pair of decent sized cod.
At the start of every hake trip each of the Newlyn hake netters has to take on board four or five tons of flake ice...
it's the same ice is used to ice the harbour boxes when the fish is presented for auction...
in order to meet the standards required by the MSC to maintain the quality of Cornish Certified hake...
so that the fleet of 15 certified boats, of which the Britannia V is one, can begin the chain of custody that is required in order to let buyers know that the hake caught meets the stringent requirements necessary, from the kind and size of nets employed, the pingers set with the nest to ensure that by-catches of dolphins and porpoises are a thing of the past to how the fish are gutted, iced and boxed at sea...
once the fish have been sold they are stacked...
and whisked away to the processors for packing in super-insulated polystyrene boxes for distribution to fish merchants and fishmongers the length and breadth of the UK...
like this 6 kilo plus beauty safe in the hands of the Chelsea Fishmonger, young Rex Goldmsith!