Non-slip slip, Penlee lifeobat to the rescue.

 

For a while it looked like the Terramare might become the Terrafirma after the cradle refused to budge and she became stuck on the slip but then, after several attempts, and thanks to harbour staff, engineers, the harbour tug Danmark and the Penlee lifeboat she was successfully towed down the slip and off the cradle. 

Boats using the slip in Newlyn rely on entering and leaving the slipway cradle on or near high water depending on the vessel's draught and some boats can only do so on a big spring tide.

As the fishing fleet modernises and boats become deeper drafted an increasing number of Newlyn vessels are forced to travel hundreds, some more thsan 1000 miles as far as Scotland or Holland to be serviced. 

This greatly highlights the justification for some serious modernisation of the harbour's infrastructure to cater for the growing demands made by fishing and work boats in the South West - where we know the likes of wind-farms and similar marine projects are already in the pipeline. 

You can read more about the concept plans for Newlyn on the Advisory Board pages of the Harbour website here.

Demonstration of fishermen in Finistère:

 "It's as if we were closing a large factory", warns the president of Pays bigouden sud About 650 people demonstrated on Saturday February 25 in Pont-L'Abbé, in Finistère, to challenge the government on the impact of the fleet exit plan on fishing in the Bigouden region.

650 people gathered on Saturday February 25 in Pont-L'Abbé, at the call of the elected officials of the Bigouden country. (MARY SEBIRE / HANS LUCAS) 

"It's as if we were closing a big factory" , warns Stéphane Le Doare, president of Pays bigouden sud and mayor of Pont-L'abbé, on franceinfo. 650 fishermen demonstrated on Saturday February 25 in this town located in the south of Finistère, reports France Bleu Breizh Izel .

The demonstration was organized at the call of the elected officials of the Bigouden country to ask the government to defend the fishing industry. After Brexit and the announcement of the limitation of fishing licenses, 26 boats will be scrapped at the port of Guilvinec. "The maritime sector represents 2,000 jobs in the Bigouden country alone, from shipbuilding to transport with, in the middle of all this, of course, the sailors-fishermen. A job at sea is five jobs on land", underlines the chosen one. If we lose 120 to 150 sailors, behind that we have 600 to 700 jobs threatened very directly."

We need "a new economic model" For Stéphane Le Doare, "it's like closing a big factory, except that it's full of small businesses" . Several local elected officials have therefore decided to mobilize because "when a factory of 600 employees closes, it makes a lot of noise but there, it is two, three or ten people here or there".

The president of Pays bigouden sud is "convinced that there is a future for fishing" even if it is necessary to "rewrite a new economic model" . However, he says he is "well aware that the good years are behind us, that the model must be renewed" . The city councilor affirms, with the other local elected officials, wanting to "be force of proposals" in the hope that the government will retain some of them and that "announcements will be made in the coming weeks to save this sector which feeds France" .

Aid for fishermen extended until October Emmanuel Macron spoke the same day with fishermen at the agricultural show. The President of the Republic notably announced the extension of the financial aid granted to fishermen to deal with the rise in fuel prices. This aid, of 20 cents excluding tax per liter of diesel, was due to expire in mid-May, and will finally be extended until October. But "it's still short ," says Stéphane Le Doare. Because this does not allow fishermen "to have a serene visibility by the end of the year" .

The elected official believes that there are two other "emergency measures" to be taken. One concerns licenses and quotas: “We have the licenses which are attached to the boats which are going to be deconstructed and which we wish to see return to our maritime district to be able to install new sailors who leave with new units at sea. As for the quotas, "we must recover the lost tonnages. We have more efficient and more modern boats which have fishing capacities but we do not give them the quotas to fish", he regrets .

Then, according to him, there is "an extremely strategic point which is going a little under silence for the moment, it is this European desire to prohibit trawling and dredging fishing in marine protected areas . However, opposite Back home, we only fish in marine protected areas".

'Tiz a cool Monday morning in Newlyn.

Those cool blue hues mirror the ambient air temperature of 0˚ this morning which was lower than inside the fish market...

as the Billy Rowney made her way at high water to land her trip at the market...

inside there were both inshore ands offshore trips of fish like these big beam trawl brill...

and haddock...

and inshore brill...

and Dovers from young Mr Curtis' trawler, Lady Lynne......

the beam trawl catches included these good looking tub gurnards...

and a splash of Mediterranean octopus and red mullet...

and a couple of incongruous conger...

lovely lemons...

and for those in the know, there's roe...

and more rouge mullet to tickle the taste buds...

and evidence the Dover sole season is hotting up...

changes to the regulations for the catching and landing of spurdog have changed this year...

somewhere amongst all those mainly mackerel stacks...

is the box of fish the Wiffer was looking for...

ray, the fish that just keeps on giving...

RNLI relief boat Volunteer Spirit at rest...

early signs of Spring are when the sardine boats begin to put their huge nets ashore for end-of-sardine-season overhaul...

that's where we like to see the Penlee lifeboat, at her mooring...

sun up and it's time to take fuel.

Creating a catch record for under 10m vessels

Below is the Catch Record guide recently introduced by the MMO.  Comments on ease of use and suitability welcome:

Where can I find more information?

Guidance has been published to demonstrate how to record catches using the app, even without a mobile signal:

• GOV.UK guidance
• Catch Recording blog post
• Video: How to register
• Video: Recording your catch

Further advice is available here.

Creating a catch record for under 10m vessels 

This guide has been created to detail how to submit a catch record. Introduction

Under 10m vessels not in a Producer Organisation (PO) are required to record details of all trips where fish is caught.

Options for submission of catch recording data includes the use of a mobile phone app (available for iPhone and Android), web service or by telephone (digital assisted). When landing any quota species, or any species subject to catch limits*, submit catch records no later than on completion of landing and prior to your catch being transported away from the place of landing. This means, you can weigh your fish on landing and use the weights to complete and submit your catch record before your catch is transported for sale or storage.

*This does not apply to catch limits in place under the shellfish entitlement, such as the 5 lobster/25 crabs When landing only non-quota species or species not subject to catch limits, submit catch records within 24 hours of landing.

If you fish in different ICES areas during a single fishing trip, you should create and submit a catch record for each ICES area.

How to register

Owners of all commercially licenced fishing vessels of under 10m in length will receive an invitation via email to register for the catch recording service. 

Contact your local MMO office if you haven’t received an invitation.

MCS 'Good Fish Guide' ratings

Transparency and credibility are important to the Good Fish Guide. After we’ve researched and drafted a set of ratings updates, we put them out to consultation. Ratings consultations are open twice per year, in February and August. We welcome feedback from anyone with technical insight and information that could contribute to the comprehensiveness and quality of our ratings.

After they have closed, we consider and respond to all feedback, which is kept anonymous. We then finalise and publish our new and updated ratings on all the Good Fish Guide platforms.

There are two ratings launches each year, in October and April.

Please contact ratings@mcsuk.org to be added to the Ratings Consultation mailing list to be notified when consultations open.

Winter Ratings Review 

Click here to download.

The Winter 22/23 ratings consultation is live from Monday 6th February - Friday 3rd March. To comment, please download the Good Fish Guide Ratings Review below, and complete the indicated column for ratings of interest.

Please send your completed sheets back to ratings@mcsuk.org along with any supporting information.

We welcome feedback until 5pm Friday 3rd March 2023.

Monthly Provisional UK Sea Fisheries Statistics January 2023

 

Below is a National Statistics publication. This notice provides an overview of the reported weight and value of landings by UK vessels into the UK and abroad, and by foreign vessels into the UK. Data are used to provide analysis and evidence to researchers and the media and to respond to ad-hoc requests from fishers, other fishing organisations and the general public. They are also used to formulate and monitor fishing policy for fisheries administrations. 

This data is provisional and represents the best available data the MMO holds on fishing activity by the UK fleet and into the UK. Data will be revised each month and lags will be reviewed following protocol documented here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fishing-activity-and-landings-data-collection-and-processing. 

Please note, the monthly data in these reports for tables 1 to 7 represent a 'snapshot' at the time of release, therefore the totals may not align with the latest published 'underlying dataset', which is downloaded from our 'live' database and presented alongside the monthly reports. 

The raw data that feeds into this publication is equivalent to the data used to produce our regular national statistics and is processed and collected as outlined above.

 

Fish of the Day - week 15 - the Dragonet

 

Dragonets are not a common sight on the fish market - as yet they are not landed in sufficient quantity. They are one of those fish that goes out of their way to protect themselves by virtue of a number of sharp spines that protect their gill plates. Unwary handling can result in a swollen digit if the skin is broken in response to the venom released - which gave rise to their local name of 'miller's thumb'.

The female dragonet as seen above is far less colourful than the male which are almost tropical with bright yellow and iridescent blue streaks on the dorsal fin. They prefer a sand or gravel seabed up to 25 fathoms in which they lay partially buried while waiting for lunch to pass - any small form of shellfish or worm will do.

What can octopus and squid brains teach us about intelligence?

 

One of the incredible things about octopus's is that not only do they have an advanced intelligence that lets them camouflage themselves, use tools and manipulate their environments and act as really clever hunters in their ecosystems, they do this with a brain that evolved essentially from something like a slug in the oceans hundreds of millions of years ago. 

Our brains share virtually nothing in common with theirs. The question for scientists is what can studying a creature with a completely different brain from our own, teach us about the common principles of what makes a brain, what makes intelligence? What does it mean for this creature to have an intelligence that is something like our own? 

To learn more, we spoke this week with Ernie Hwaun and Matt McCoy, two interdisciplinary postdoctoral scholars at the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford who study cephalopod intelligence from completely different angles.

Making Waves in 1983 by Blanchmange.

Newlyn was the port but the Mousehole boat, Renovelle is the real star of this music video shot in the early 1980s. Like many 50 footers in the fleet the boat was longlining - mainly for ling, pollack, ray and skate. On deck you can see mainly fibreglass tubs that by then had largely replaced the traditional withy baskets and the latest Spencer Carter line hauler. The eagle-eyed amongst you will no doubt spot the Ocean Pride passing the Renovelle as they pass in the gaps, she is also loaded with baskets of lines. Each basket or tub contained around 120 hooks which were baited by hand, usually with mackere as the line was shot away.

It was February 6th, 1983, when the band Blanchmange released the single Waves,

Waves remains a timeless, sublime classic that has a heart as big as the ocean; a track that radiates warmth and arguably one of the prettiest electro-ballads ever written. 

Interviewed in 1983, Neil Arthur commented on the song, "Our new single — and this isn't to say, Oh, yes folks we've got a new single — but 'Waves' was written quite a while back, and the original version was done in quite a serious way. It had slightly different lyrics in it and I used to take it quite seriously. Now I just laugh at it because of the line in it, 'All these waves coming over me, it must be my destiny'.” "It's the most obvious thing; you listen to any Abba record. People are going to hate that line, but I think it's great to put it in. So corny." “

A good song to play in the morning when you can't be bothered getting out of bed,” wrote Sharon Owen in her novel ‘The Ballroom on Magnolia Street. “Waves by Blancmange From the Happy Families album. I love male singers with deep voices and Neil Arthur's was so rich and distinctive. A real anthem for lost youth, this one, with all the synthesizers and drumbeats that were typical of the 1980s. Strangely erotic too.”

The truth of the false on the weight of the maritime district of Guilvinec

 

The key figures of the Guilvinec maritime district.

What does the Guilvinec maritime district really amount to? 

As the post-Brexit fleet exit plan approaches, we have put this port place under the microscope. We disentangle the true from the false. The port of Guilvinec is the first Cornish port. TRUE On the scale of Cornouaille (*), Le Guilvinec remains the stronghold. It represents nearly 41% of the volumes sold at auction in 2022 (out of 32,702 t in all). 13,617 t were landed at Guilvinec last year (- 4% compared to 2021) for a turnover of €61.70 million (- 2%), which places it second French port in value behind Lorient (15,984 t sold at auction for a turnover of €63.60 million). Bigouden port is far ahead of Douarnenez (6,991 t landed for €5.80 M in turnover at auction in 2022), Concarneau (3,715 t for €27.60 M), Saint-Guénolé-Penmarc'h (4,456 t for €17 million), Loctudy (2,766 t for €13.50 million) or Audierne (1,156 t for €11 million). Unlike Guilvinec, some ports like Douarnenez boost their volumes with non-auction sales (8,991 t) but these movements generate less direct added value.

Twenty-six Bigouden trawlers eligible for the scrapping plan The number of ships is constantly decreasing. Fake

For decades, the flotilla in the maritime district of Guilvinec (Le Guilvinec, Lesconil, Loctudy, Saint-Guénolé) has been declining. It even melts. In 1965, there were 740 ships compared to 216 in 2018. But in recent years, this figure has been rising slightly. In 2021, there were 225 boats in the district, nine more than in 2018. This growth is mainly linked to the development of small-scale fishing (141 boats in 2021) such as trolling. Coastal fishing has 30 boats and offshore fishing (more than 96 hours at sea), 54 units. On the other hand, the number of sailors on board continues to decrease. In 1965, there were more than 3,000 against only 677 in 2021!

The post-Brexit fleet exit plan has no precedent. Fake The post-Brexit individual support plan (PAI) currently under negotiation concerns around twenty boats in the Guilvinec district. This is not the first fleet exit plan (commonly known as a "junk plan"). In 1991, the "Mellick plan" (named after the Minister of Fisheries at the time) imposed the reduction of fleets by 2002. Result: in the Guilvinec district, 93 boats left the workforce between 1991 and 1995. than 400 units at departmental level! In 2008, again, the "Barnier plan" was decided after the strikes of November 2007. Nine boats will leave the port of Guilvinec, 21 (out of 31 registered) in the entire maritime district, the most heavily affected in Brittany.

Bigouden shipowners refuse to be stigmatized One job at sea generates three to four jobs on land. TRUE A fisherman at sea is (at least) four jobs on land within the fishing industry: fish trading, processing plants, transport, fittings, mechanics, construction and repair, painting, mass distribution, fishmongers. Not to mention refuelling (equipment, diesel, ice), the agents of the CCIMBO Quimper which manages the fishing ports of Cornouaille or the maritime school of Guilvinec. As far as Pont-l'Abbé, capital of the Bigouden region, by runoff, traders profit from the income from fishing. On the scale of the maritime district, it is estimated that fishing generates 2,280 direct and indirect jobs, more than 5,000 on the scale of Cornwall. The sector still weighs heavily in the local economy.

In Pays bigouden, the fishing industry in anguish Steven Lecornu Posted by Steven Lecornu on February 06, 2023 at 06:30 In the maritime district of Guilvinec, there are 2,280 direct and indirect jobs related to the sea. In the maritime district of Guilvinec, there are 2,280 direct and indirect jobs related to the sea. (Telegram / François Destoc) In the maritime district of Guilvinec, the extent of the post-Brexit fleet exit plan (*) will soon be unveiled. We interviewed the players in the fishing industry, all of whom were very worried. Gaël Guillemin (Gléhen shipyard): “We lack prospects”

“With around 30 fewer boats in our ports, we could lose between 30 and 50% of our activity dedicated to maintenance and repair. Overnight and without any compensation, it's brutal, explains Gaël Guillemin, general manager of the Gléhen shipyard , it's an entire economic ecosystem that will be destabilised. This fleet exit plans badly behaved. At the same time, an investment plan should have been proposed. Today, we lack prospects. The prohibition to build a boat in the following five years is a double penalty. The future of auctions, wholesalers and many related trades is on hold. This is why we are asking for investments in the careening areas, such as the arrival of a new lift in Douarnenez. Indispensable to conquer markets”.

Full story courtesy of Steve Lecournu writing for Le Télégramme. (Use Google to translate)

Fish of the Day - week 14 - the delicate dab.

 

Dabs, a member of the plaice and flounder family do not feature weight-wise in terms of landings on the market at Newlyn. Boats fishing 'up-channel' (that's the Bristol Channel) deep off Pendeen are more likely to have a bog haul of dabs than anywhere else.

When it comes to eating dabs provide small, delicate fillets that can be used in any recipe that suggest you use plaice or other flats. the fillets cook in almost seconds, gently fired in a shallow pan, steamed or if you have the gear, deep fried, whole on the bone. They are also generally a much cheaper option than other more well known flats so one to keep your eyes open for if you are feeding the masses!

Dab are a relatively abundant species of flatfish which provide a more sustainable alternative to more vulnerable, longer-lived and overfished species of flatfish such as plaice. They are mostly taken as bycatch in trawl fisheries and often discarded because of its low market value. Stock levels of dab are poorly understood in our the south-west (though fishermen have all the evidence to say exactly where and when they can be caught)  but there is little evidence that the stocks are unhealthy. They can be bought on the auction for an average price of £1.50 per kilo.

Catches of dab landed in Cornwall have fluctuated between five and twenty tonnes per year since the 1990's. In 2019 a total of 5 tonnes of dab were landed to Cornish ports with a value of £3.5k (MMO data). As of July 2019.

Artist and fisher chronicles life on one of the last southern New England trap fishing boats

 

Cory Wheeler Forrest says she is in a line of work that lends itself to photography. Corey Wheeler Forrest is a third-generation fisherwoman. Her family owns the last trap-fishing business in southern New England. Forrest loves the work, and quite often is taken aback by the beauty she sees out in the open water.

Several years ago, she started taking pictures of her surroundings, her family, and the tools of her trade, and posting them on Instagram. Now 30 of those pictures are included in the new exhibition "Fish & Forrest: Through the Lens of a Commercial Fishermom”, now on view at Mystic Seaport’s Meeting House.

During fishing season, Forrest, along with her brother, 76 year-old father, and quite often her daughter get up early, load up their boats and head out to one of several traps in nearby waters. Their way of life was the subject of a 2019 documentary by Hudson Lines called “The Last Trap Family.”

Forrest said there is something about her line of work that lends itself to photography.

“Because all of the elements are there” explains Forrest. “The early morning golden light, the salty characters I work with, we have the nets, rust, all of the colors just come together.”

But Forrest said photography and commercial fishing are often in conflict. She guesses because of her work on the boat, she misses more chances to take a great picture than she makes.

“Fishing can be a grind, it can feel like “Groundhog Day” every day, but then again it’s also so different,” Forrest said. “We’ve gotten caught out there in lightning storms, and gales come through with hurricane-force winds, and then it’s over 5 minutes later and there’s a rainbow. It’s just beautiful. It’s magical.”

"Fish & Forrest: Through the Lens of a Commercial Fishermom” is on view at Mystic Seaport’s Meeting House through the summer.

Belgian beam trawlwer sinks near Lands End

The 24m Belgian beam trawler Sylvia Mary Z525 has sunk off Gwennap Head...

while steaming from her home port of Zeebrugge she called in to Oostende...

after hitting the Runnelstone Reef, a notorious rocky reef...

there's a bit of a break in her AIS after she passed the Lizard until the point of contact with the reef...

the extent of which can be added which can seen on the nautical chart...

marked by the Runnelstone Buoy...

as she was steaming to the Dover sole fishing grounds in the Bristol Channel...

from her home port of Zeebrugge...

The 24-metre fishing vessel struck rocks about off Porthgwarra but the four crew onboard has been safely rescued from a liferaft the Sennan Cove RNLI Lifeboat brought them to dryland at Newlyn. Two other Belgian beam-trawlers, the Albert Bos Z-41 and the Grietje Z-187 were in the vicinity at the time of the incident.

In a statement, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said:

 “Four crew from a fishing vessel which struck rocks at Lands’ End have just been rescued and are on a lifeboat on their way back to shore. The crew made a mayday broadcast and abandoned their vessel earlier this evening, taking to their liferaft from which they were rescued by lifeboat just a short time later. The Sennen all-weather RNLI lifeboat was requested to launch by HM Coastguard and a Coastguard and a Royal Navy helicopter also assisted at the scene. “All crew have been accounted for and are safe and well. The fishing vessel remains on scene.”

'Spatial squeeze', what's it all about - the latest Fathom podcast.

 

The Fathom podcast has partnered with The National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations (NFFO) to produce a series of informative and highly topical episodes, focusing on the challenges and opportunities facing UK fishermen in the post-Brexit landscape.

In our fifth and final episode of the series, NFFO CEO Barrie Deas and CFPO CEO Chris Ranford are joined by a series-record number of guests who include: Nathan de Rozarieux, a fisheries consultant and fisherman operating out of Cornwall, Merlin Jackson, a former inshore fisherman operating from the Thames estuary and currently a fishing liaison to the offshore wind industry and Colin Warwick, retired fisherman and chair of Far and Large Offshore Wind (FLOW). Our panel were on hand to help us explore the issue of spatial squeeze, giving an insight into how marine space has been swallowed up over the past twenty years, the concerning reality of future competition for space and what can be done now to ensure fishing grounds are protected.

“Spatial squeeze” is a concept that has become more prevalent in marine terminology over the past couple of decades. It refers to the increasing competition for space in the seas around our coasts, acknowledging the effect that new infrastructure such as offshore wind farms and marine protected areas are having on ever-shrinking fishing grounds.

The episode was timed with the release of a report by the NFFO. The report sought to reconcile local and regional snapshots of marine projects to date, and show predictions of further developments to create a national picture of spatial squeeze from past to present and how impending plans will see future space used. Barrie kicks things off with the report’s daunting prediction that in the best-case scenario, we will lose a third of our fishing grounds and in the worst, up to a half.

We then hear from Merlin and Colin who provide an overview of how we got here, with Merlin suggesting that the planning and licensing process was set up so that by the time fishing communities received an opportunity to contribute their thoughts or concerns on new offshore wind farms, it was too late to do anything about it. Similarly Colin argues that there isn’t a level playing field with the absence of any statutory requirement to consult fisheries in the same way as other statutory consultees on new marine developments.

Nathan gives us some insights on a project he worked on with energy developers and the Crown Estate, who own virtually all of the seabed in UK waters. This virtual planning exercise sought to explore how coexistence between offshore wind and fishing could work. Nathan’s conclusion was that there was a chasm between what was theoretically and practically possible in terms of fishing inside an offshore wind farm, and the practical difficulties were not being taken into account in the planning process.

The final part of the discussion centred on what the fishing community needed to do to ensure the survival and growth of the industry into the future. Here, there was broad agreement on exerting pressure on the government, the MMO and the Crown Estate to make both a cultural and statutory shift that would give fishermen a seat around the table in marine spatial planning. To do this, our panel agreed that there needed to be a concerted effort from the community to garner support from the public to the same degree as the Brexit campaign, and to build a recognition that food security needed to be taken as seriously as energy security.

Catch up on other Fathom Podcasts here.

Manic Monday morning market in Newlyn!

Everyone needs to try fish roe at least once, you may just get a big surprise...

Monday's market was a mix of net fish like these hake from the Silver Dawn...

Britannia V...

and pollack from the Annie May from working wrecks...

there was plenty of inshore fish too from the likes of the New Venture...

along with some good Dovers from the Trevssa IV...

some may have seen skipper-to-be-one-day Danny Fisher holding up this 'gurt' hake earlier in the week......

well here it is on the market weighing in at just over 7kg......

another net boat to land a big trip of mainly hake and haddock...

and pollack was the Silver Dawn...

there were still plenty of dogs to be had as they are everywhere at the moment...

as are haddock...

with the Britannia V topping out their trip on them...

plenty of hake with the Ocean pride too...

even the inshore fridge was chocker with fish...

with plenty of mackerel...

and buried in there somewhere...

as young Mr Smart was to find out were his haul...

of herring, just some of the 1.9 tons of line caught herring on today's market...

a brace of pissers...

the bulk of beam trawl trips are quality flats, either Dover...

or megrim soles...

just in from a few shots, the Shetland boat Acciona...

one of the few boats fishing southwestern waters using the traditional Scottish seine net with rope reels

the boxes came ashore...

closely monitored by the MMO duty watch...

straight up from the fishroom...

kept at just the right temperature by the King of Cold himself, Alex Pino...

the boat beimng one oof the many that rely on his hard work keeping their catches at...

just the right temperature during the course of a trip...

now headed in after six days at sea, the Enterprise...

a few minutes later the Ocean Pride heads away closely followed by the punt Ali Cat...

there's a bit of a fresh breeze this morning as the sun breaks the sky...

as the boats come and go in Newlyn...

the Trevssa IV takes on fuel...

as the boys make fast the Enterprise...

and under skipper Nathan's watchful eye...

begin the process of overhauling the chain mats...

and replacing worn out links...

along with checking the blocks and derrick head...

before the next trip...

latest boat to join the fleet, smart looking Cygnus, the Katy B.