#FishyFriday

Big boxes for big fish...

somehow this mermaid's purse (the egg of a shark) made it ashore...

a box of blues...

two golden opportunities...

Sparkling Line landing in Newlyn...

it's a mystery...

the Anthony Stevenson in better times...

It's cod news week - the lunacy of legislation!

"Always happy to see fish but the harsh reality is these cod we are taken in to port will give me and my crew absolutely ZERO pay for our efforts and that is fac...t with no exaggeration, it costs us £1800 to rent a tonne and that is what the cost of them are in the market so we are doing this for free as we dont want to discard fish., how long can this madness go on? theres alot of people who will make money off these but i can only tell my crew 'thanks'"

The lunancy that is the current quota system coupled with the inequity of the licence system - two wrongs have served to create this bizarre situation.

Cod is expected to become sustainable again in the coming years after decades of overfishing left populations in the North Sea on the brink of extinction. 

Consumers have been urged for many years to avoid eating the fish but a report by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) last week found that numbers are recovering as a result of careful management. Although the survey found that British cod will not be classified as sustainable for at least a year, the signs suggest it could soon make a welcome return to menus. 

Richard Benyon, the Fisheries Minister, said: "We should not be complacent, there is still a long way to go, but this is really good news. "People can eat cod without feeling guilty because there are large quantities being caught further north, and our cod stocks in the North Sea are recovering.  "Much of the credit for this must rest with the fishermen who have introduced a vast number of [sustainable fishing] measures." 


Barrie Deas, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, said there had been evidence of cod populations rallying since 2000, due in large part to reducing of fleet sizes. He said: "This is part of a general trend right across the north eastern Atlantic. For all the main species groups, all of them have shown a dramatic reduction of about 50 per cent in fishing mortality, which is the percentage of a stock that you take out each year." 

Figures produced by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Ices) show that spawning stock of North Sea cod increased by 250 per cent between 2006 and 2012. Ices predicted last year that stocks could soon reach the minimum desired level of 70,000 tonnes for the first time since 1998, less than a decade after warning that the number of young cod in the North Sea was the lowest for 20 years. 

Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall told The Guardian he was "more keen than anyone to see British cod back on the 'fish to eat' list" but said he would not do so until population levels are considered safe. The MSC report found that fisheries of North Sea herring and cockles from the Thames Estuary are now sustainable and well-managed against its official standards, while cod is recovering well. But other species such as red gurnard, which is often recommended to consumers as an alternative to the "big five" of cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns, may themselves be at risk. 

The MSC said there is an "urgent case" for research into the sustainability of red gurnard after identifying a lack of data on fish stocks and "limited" management of catches. Red gurnard is often fished using "beam trawling", where fish are caught by dragging a metal beam with nets attached along the sea bed, with few restrictions on where it can be done. Other fisheries including brown crab, English Channel cuttlefish and sole caught with beam trawls also need further information before they can meet the criteria of the MSC's eco-label. 

Claire Pescod, who chairs the MSC advisory group for Project Inshore, said: "There's been a significant interest in underutilised species over the past few years. "When those fish suddenly become commercially popular, we need to put a lot more effort into providing the appropriate information for their management to make sure that they are managed sustainably. In many cases there are gaps in understanding of the fishery that will need to be filled."

Story courtesy of the Daily Telegraph.

Finest Friday for some time

The St Georges made a good job of filling the market floor this morning...

with good run of mink tails in the landing...

also chipping in to a bisy market, the Harvest Reaper proved yet again that there are plenty of cid swimming around out there...

the new gear on the Sapphire II does a good job of picking up the odd scallop or two...

while the Boy Dylan shows who's the best baddest bass boy in town...

with a top shot from the rough grounds...

not a bad collection of the finest turbot and briil..

from the young lady...

hailing from Hayle, Tasty's freshest of fish...

gear up and ready to mend...

unthinkable up until a few years ago - an empty slipway in Newlyn!...

the skater boys and girls are keeping an eye on the new skate facility taking shape on the prom at Wherrytown.

Reliance III - running away from North Sea cod - part II

Not the most comfortable ridfe to work - imagine steaming for 62 hours in this weather - even sleeping is hard work!


Making the decision to fish at Rockall in order to avoid catching cod is not taken lightly. For starters just getting there involves a steam of over 60 hours - a round trip of nearly 6 days without a fish being caught - so the return in terms of the value of fish has to justify the long steam and the fuel consumed. Haddock, monk and squid are the three main species available to the boats who fish at the Rock.

Weather is a real issue fishing Rockall - with the prevailing winds from the west - if the weather is extreme it is to far to risk running home in huge following seas - and dodging requires heading for deeperwater off the bank - going west! - next stop Newfoundland or Iceland!

A reminder of just how bad it can get can be seen here with these two Spanish longliners.

Pair trawling in a gale of wind - top seamanship skills!

All in a day's work - when pair trawling the boats have to pass a line between them before they can tow the net - in poor weather this requires considerable skill - the Lapwing has to approach the Budding Rose at high speed because the wind would keep her off course - a tense moment every time the boats do so - which is probably around five times a day - and even more hair-raising at night! 

Escaping the cod in the North Sea - Rockall update from the Reliance III

Update from Reliance III via satellite link:- now with her gear in the water south west of the Rock!

Twin rig trawls streaming away from the stern of the boat

"Well after steaming near 62 hours and covering 460 miles in some pretty crap weather that's finally gotten my fishing gear shot 50miles sw of Rockall.  In all that time steaming I pass 1 Scottish fishing boat and 16 foreign fishing boats. 
If anything its not the fish that's going extinct is fishermen. 
Anyway its a great day at Rockall flat calm and light winds and you dont get many days like this out here so we will enjoy our day fishing and heres hoping we nail some fish"........jc

You dinna get a lot of Cod out at Rockall but when you do there all this size,we call them Bull Cod..
Will get a couple Cod steaks out of him for our supper tonight.....jc

 You would think that catching a cod this size might just put a smile on the skipper's face - but look at the consequences!

• Robert James Scally Heeds 'ats fit we also called them used to love a haul of heeds now we all this leasing there is no enjoyment in seeing them

  Like · Reply · 1 · 58 minutes ago via mobile
• 

  Realfishfight SOFC ats something on the west coast and oot here y dinna have to worry about with cod..1.5% bycatch for cod so for every say 6of that big cod you have to have arun 100boxs of other fish to meet your legal bycatch,whiting the same 1.5% bycatch....jc

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall praised North Sea fishermen after The Real Fish Fight was launched

Celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says he is listening to Peterhead skippers angered that his TV show misrepresented them and the UK fishing industry.

Hugh’s Fish Fight dumped the reality of discards right into the living rooms of the public; highlighting the merits of sustainable fishing and calling for action to be taken to ‘save our seas’.

His methods however, angered a group of trawlermen who fought back with The Real Fish Fight campaign.

The campaigners voiced concerns that the series did not differentiate between the healthy North East sector and troubled markets elsewhere in the country.

They also argued that "there are plenty of fish in the sea".

Now Hugh says he has been listening to the campaigners' arguments and says he recognises how healthy the north-east industry is.

And he has heaped praise on campaign leader Peter Bruce, calling him a "top skipper" and someone who could "lead the UK fishing industry".

Speaking to STV, Hugh said: "I know that Peter Bruce of the Real Fish Fight is one of the top skippers in Scotland and catches great quality fish. He is on the innovative catch-quota system and so doesn’t discard any cod and has an MSC certificate of sustainability for his haddock.

"He’s the sort of fisherman to lead the UK fishing industry in the right direction. I think we’ve got a lot in common and I am listening to what the Real Fish Fight has to say.

"I do acknowledge that cod stocks are doing well in the North Sea from their all-time low point in 2006 and applaud fishermen and fishery managers for their hard work to make that happen. But looking at all stocks, across the whole UK, it’s a complicated situation.

"Our latest series of Fish Fight focused on Marine Protected Areas, and did not discuss fish stocks in the North Sea. We filmed on the Isle of Man – in the Irish Sea – where cod stocks are still in dire straits, and scientists advise that we shouldn’t catch any cod if we can help it. It’s the same in coastal areas of West Scotland."

A recent haul of cod from Peter Bruce's boat - the Budding Rose

The fishing industry was dealt a heavily blow when, earlier this year, the Marine Conservation Society demoted mackerel on its list of ethical fish to eat, causing Hugh to ditch his campaign to get "mac baps" into Britain’s chippys.

North Sea fishermen met with green groups, WWF, Marine Scotland and fisheries scientists, to find a solution to the depleting stocks and have swapped their nets for different mesh sizes to allow younger fish to escape.

Campaign founder and skipper, Peter Bruce, said: "We’re not happy with the way that we have been portrayed. What the programme called facts were just lies. We thought there was such a misrepresentation of the situation; we had to set up on our own.

"There are plenty of fish in our seas. His campaign is all about scaremongering and I know that to be true because every time we take the boat out we can see for ourselves on our equipment just how many fish there are out there.

"Fishermen haven't been given any credit for their efforts, and there is no evidence to suggest that by banning fishing in certain areas that fish numbers will increase, or that this will be the best way to conserve."

The fishing fleet at Petehead has fallen from 120 vessels in the 1990s to only 30. Two weeks ago, Peter’s boat, The Budding Rose, hauled her largest ever catch of cod - 30 tonnes in a single net.

The Budding Rose recently landed 30 tonnes of of cod in a single net in Peterhead

Peter added: "I had never seen a catch like that in all my 30 years at sea. The boat’s ram was completely bent out of shape by the weight of the catch - so much so it has had to be removed for repairs to be carried out.

"It was taken around 20 miles from closed cod spawning grounds; I had been fishing for haddock. I was in contact with a fellow skipper who was 75 miles away and he was having a similar experience."

Peterhead is the UK’s largest white fish and pelagic (mackerel and herring) port and runs an on-site fish market from Monday to Friday.

The fishermen claim that cod stocks in the North Atlantic have reached their highest levels for almost 20 years and ships such as the Budding Rose require only a relatively short time at sea to fill their holds.

Peter Bruce shows off some of his prized cod to promote The Real Fish Fight

Peter added: "Some people want the North Sea left as an aquarium and we just can't have that. We would like the scientists to come out with us and see what we are seeing on the grounds.

"Hugh’s Fish Fight seems to be motivated by raising his profile and bank balance. In the first series, he did a great job of highlighting the issue and we were all for it but we are not happy at his more recent claims about fish stocks."

"The money spent on his campaign should have been spent on scientific research; his measures will not provide a solution, it will only flood the market with products from overseas which have a high carbon footprint."

Hugh’s Fish Fight production company, KEO Films, are currently reviewing their options for a follow-up episode of the series, but have not ruled out a meeting between the two fish crusaders.

Fish shops, chip shops, restaurants and hotels - Ethical purchasing?

This is a question posed by skipper John Buchan aboard the white fish trawler, Ocean Venture: 

A few questions to all fish shops, chip shops, restaurants and hotels... 

Do you, to the best of your knowledge use Scottish caught fish? 

Would you use Scottish fish? 

Does your supplier inform you he may often use CHEAP foreign imports? 

The import of cod and haddock are gripping the Scottish fleet at the moment with the prices for such species at a low. Support your local fishermen and demand fresh fish!


An example of just one of many local companies producing haddock and smoked haddock fillets - from Scotland all the way down to the tip of Cornwall - can you source more of your supplies from them?.

Dumped cod - what a waste! - a united UK front is needed say MPs

Dumped dead cod

The picture as it is today: 


Four dead cod float away from the boat. Each cod is around 5Kg.
Four times 5 = 20Kg.


That scene is repeated daily for the net boats and trawlers working in Area VIIg - see below......

Cod quota for ICES Area VIIg which is where the Ajax and other Newlyn boats will be fishing this tide is currently 300Kg per month per boat. 


20Kg is 20/300X100 = 6.6% of a month's quota caught and then dumped, dead, back into the sea - at least the crabs get a meal out of the waste.


And a timely article appeared on the BBC's web site today:



The whole of the UK needs to present a "united front" to the European Union to protect the future of fishing fleets, MPs have said. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee accused Brussels of "micro-management" in setting catch quotas. It said EU member states should decide them "as locally as possible". The MPs urged ministers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to work together to ensure UK views are heard when new EU rules are introduced. 


The European Commission says the existing system of fishing quotas - which often leads to tonnes of good fish being dumped at sea - will be changed over the next couple of years.


The major headache for the boats fishing in Area VII today is that the quota was introduced way back in 1983. At that time, the TAC (Total Allowable Catch) was set based on catch returns from the late 1970s. Unsurprisingly, the fishing fleet of Cornwall had changed significantly in that time. Most of the bigger boats in Newlyn caught very little cod - they were long lining for ling and skate at the time and there were very few trawlers working the grounds where cod habited. As a result, when the quotas were set the UK ended up with around 1200 tonnes and the French around 14000 tonnes - simply because they had a growing fleet of trawlers catching whitefish including cod. Even if the UK's quota was doubled today it would still not reflect the catching capacity of the fleet. Cod do not move far - a fact proved by tagging fish - not one cod tagged in Area VII has been recoverd in any other ICES area suggesting that the stock of cod is entirely located here in and around the Western approaches.


See the rest of the story here.

Monday's mackerel day - in protest.

Pin boned mackerle fillets in olly oil........

on a high heat.........

served with fried bread Mediterranean style (in oil not dripping) and caulflower couscous with a lemon puree sauce - a Cornish variation using locally caught Cornish mackerel (in protest to Iceland's unilateral decision to set its own mackerel quota and ignore the current stock ICES stock estimates) to the cod used by the guest Icelandic chef, Agi Sverisson on last Saturday's Saturday Kitchen - the Best Bites.

Fish 'n chips.

 Sometimes the best laid plans go awry, so when a fillet of line caught  cod ends up hanging at your front door the planned tea goes out the window and the idea of cod and chips suddenly becomes an imperative.......  

 with the addition of a few choice ingredients a..........

 home-made Tartare sauce is quickly produced to accompany........

goujonsof Panko encrusted cod -the simple fish dish wins again - thank you Phil!

CFPO - EARLY OPPORTUNITY FOR DAMANAKI AND THE EU COMMISSION TO DEMONSTRATE THEIR COMMITMENT TO REDUCING DISCARDS.

 

For the last few years fishermen around Cornwall have been seeing a significant
increase in cod on the ground and in their catches but until now this has not been
reflected in the annual quotas set by Europe.

The Cornish Fish Producers Organisation (CFPO) has been working to resolve
this issue and following a series of trans-national meetings with French and
Irish fishermen’s organisations and the recent publication of this years scientific
advice from ICES (the independent international scientific body that advises
the EU Commission on fish stocks and quota levels) the CFPO is hopeful of an
increase this years Cod quota in the South West.

Scientists failed to pick-up the strong recruitment of fish coming into the fishery
in last year’s assessment but have now recognised the strength of this stock.
Furthermore they have said that with out immediate action discards will increase.

Paul Trebilcock Chief Executive of the CFPO said:

“The recent publication of ICES advice revising estimates of cod in the Celtic Sea
has highlighted a major anomaly for management in 2011 which requires urgent
attention. We and others around Europe feel that the EU Commission and the
Council of Ministers need to address this issue as a matter of extreme urgency.

The ICES advice published in June 2011 is explicit:

“Because of the large 2009 year class is now entering the fishery, which was
not anticipated in last years advice or TAC, there will be a large inconsistency
between the TAC set for 2011 (4023 t) and the predicted landings for that year,
assuming the current fishing mortality (10 500 t). Therefore, in the absence of
any effort limitation and/or TAC revision, high discarding will occur.”

In terms of the immediate action required the scientific advice is clear; if there
is not an in-year increase in the TAC there will be a significant, increase in
unnecessary and widespread discarding.

The scientific evidence fully supports industry perceptions that the fishing fleets
of all Member States involved in fisheries that operate in VIIe-k have observed
high levels of cod in their catches during 2009, 2010 and the early part of 2011.
This steady improvement in the stock has been observed since 2006 following
the implementation of the industry led annual Trevose Closure since 2004.

Given that Commissioner Damanaki has made much of her desire to reduce
discards in European fisheries, this represents an opportunity to demonstrate
her commitment by taking immediate and urgent action to amend the 2011 TAC based on the latest ICES advice.

It is essential that the Commission and Council of Ministers show the resolve
to deal with the in-year adjustment required in the exceptional circumstances
which the recent ICES advice gives rise to. This would secure the confidence
of the fishing sector that sacrifices made can actually produce positive benefits
in economic, discard-reduction and overall conservation terms which must be
objectives shared by all.”

This issue is now being pursed through the North Western Waters Regional
Advisory Council and it is hoped an in-year increase in the cod quota can be
secured as soon as possible.

For more information contact the CFPO office in Newlyn.

Fishy Friday finds fiercely fought over fish as prices rocket.

The harbour security office has an excellent view.......

out with the old - might be for sale........

flat calm this morning........

the Annabelle J, a classic Bristol Pilot boat is available for hire with skipper - based on the South coast...........

the boat is based in Hamble, built by the Appledore Shipyard in 1995 and designed by the Duchy Boatyard and fitted out by Bridgend Boat Co. Newton Ferrers, Devon.........

in a sea of black, the red ensign, first proclaimed in 1674 by Charles II to be flown by British merchant ships .........

seeing double.......

that's progress, a hunderd years ago they had donkeys to do the heavy work........

biggest cod on the market, this one had Paul's name on it from the Twilight III's four day trip........

at-ease Anthony........

plenty of keen bidding for the last few boxes on the market........

pause for a moment to ponder........

as the price of monk hits £23+ a kilo - that's around £138 a stone in old money!