Full of the finest #FishyFriday fish!

A very wet looking moon hangs over Newlyn this morning, portent of a damp day perhaps...

something Tom will be keeping an eye on...

two unexpected beam trawlers figured on the landing board this morning...

so for a lucky few buyers there were limited supplies of top quality fish like these Dover soles...

and some cracking big turbot...

for those with the kind of customers...

who deal with only the best fish that Newlyn can offer like these red mullet...

Dovers...

and at the other end of the market where the boxes were stacked four or five high...

there were plenty of good sized hake...

and a handful of the very biggest 6+ kilo fish...

huge ling...

and plenty of ray for the more discerning buyers...

with bidding keen as ever of a #FishyFriday...

even for the end of season cuttles...

and beginning of season haddock...

ray don't get better than these day-boat fish from the Imogen III...

a 'git louster' of a ling to use the Cornish vernacular for the very biggest examples...

 as always the fish from the Lisa...

is bright and shiny...

this little chap bears the name of that most famous African tribe and the eponymous film named after them...

a walk in the dark for the Ministry...

as the fish begin to be whisked away...

for the next week there is a great opportunity to enjoy classic sailing on the kind of boat...

that moved huge amounts of goods around the Cornish coast...

the Bessie Ellen...

is a stunning example, maintained as she would have been on the day she was launched in Plymouth in 1904...

she would have visited Mount's Bay on many occasions...

these days the quayside in Newlyn is filled with fishing gear like these pots waiting to go aboard the Rowse crabbers and deployed at sea...

all set for the next trip aboard the Admiral Grenville...

wood boat building skills are very much alive in the south-west... 

with courses available at Falmouth Marine School...

 to see that the skills required are not lost to generations to come able to build in sustainable wood and not steel...

a look away East as the sun cracks the cloud...

the business end of the ex-landing craft Seven Sins from Keynvor Marine Contractors...

a painterly scene for anyone wishing to brave the chilly morning air...

with the local gigs in still waters...

waiting for the off, heavy fish transport with the iceworks in the background...

must have been quite a day for Debs in the Star Inn with some of the ports more legendary fishing socialites enjoying birthdays...

no way through past the Mission today...

guess the Newlyn School artist from the brushwork.

Off Mousehole

Like many Cornsh harbours, Mousehole is protected during the winter months by heavy timber baulks that prevent the severest of winter storms from damaging boats in the harbour confines...

the Bessie Ellen nears the end of her day sail around the Bay...

as a few of the smaller day boats make their way back to Newlyn...

some rather quicker than others...

looks like Spring is in the air for a pair of gulls...

the Mizpah and her tender...

the Rock Poolcafe enjoys a great view of the Bay...

the Trevssa IV  about to round the Low Lee buoy bound away...

a change of colour for the Innisfallen...

as the Lisa Jacqueline heads in through the gaps.

All aboard the Bessie Ellen for a sail around the Bay!

Most Spring-like this morning...

some classic 'grown' timbers ready for the saw...

Ollie tells it as it is...

for the benefit of the big Belgian beamer Marbi...

grinding in Newlyn...

not quite big enough to fill the gap left by the Jacoba...

the fish lorry for the Belgian beamer first has...

to offload a new set of boxes for her...

watched over by Andrew who is about to put out more pots Dreckly...

the ex-Newlyn trawler Imogen gets some attention from the engineers...

down from Mevagissey...

and the only boat on an otherwise empty quay...

off come more boxes...

all set for the Easter sailing programme, book your place for a trip this week aboard the classic tallship Bessie Ellen...

there is some serious welding underway aboard the Twilight...

a must unless you want to incur the wrath of the clamperman!

CALLING FOR FISHING VIEWS ON EU REFORM

Under EU regulations a counry has 2 years to negotiater an exit form the EU.

Today a quote from Lord O'Donnell on the BBC news website:

Greenland's decision to withdraw from the European Community, the organisation that preceded the EU, in 1985 offered the only precedent, he said.

"Greenland has a slightly smaller population than Croydon and it has one issue, and that's fish," he said.

"So with one issue, small population, it took them not two years but three. We have multiple issues. The idea that we can do it all in two years I think is highly unlikely."

Now an article from Dr Ian Duncan MEP.

Dr Ian Duncan, Conservative MEP for Scotland, is asking fishermen and farmers to tell him how the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) can be reformed as part of the Prime Minister´s renegotiation deal.

Following a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron last week, Ian was tasked with taking the views of the Scottish fishing and farming communities, and reporting back to the PM, with the aim of ensuring they are integrated into the reform package.

One of the four pillars negotiated by the PM was driving forward a ´competitiveness´ agenda, through the elimination of bureaucracy and red tape. Under the deal, the European Commission must bring forward plans to improve competitiveness by the year end. To achieve this the Commission has undertaken to ;

´...establish specific targets at EU and national levels for reducing burden on business, particularly in the most onerous areas for companies, in particular small and medium size enterprises. Once established, the Commission will monitor progress against these targets and report to the European Council annually´.

Commenting, Ian said

‘For many people the deal brought back from Brussels seems distant and technical. Few will have calculated exactly how it will affect their industry, business or family.

For me the two areas of European regulation most in need of reform remain the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).  My family spent years locked into the former, and I spent years working with the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation trying to undo the damage of the latter.

Whilst all appreciate the benefits brought by the single market, few farmers or fishermen will rejoice in the ever growing burdens represented by legislation from Brussels.

It is for that reason that I met with the Prime Minister last week to determine how the reform package can benefit working fishermen and farmers.  He is clear that both can be addressed under competitiveness. To do this I need to hear from those most affected by the CAP and CFP. What can be reformed? What can be done differently? What can be done locally? What doesn’t need to be done at all? Write to me. E-mail me. Call me. Get me the information so that I can pull together the specifics about what needs to change and deliver them to the PM.

Many farmers and fishermen, frustrated by decades of EU regulation, will vote to leave the EU.  That is their right, a right secured by the PM when he delivered on the referendum.  For those who are less sure, I want to show that the Conservative Government is serious about reforming these key sectors.'

Make your thoughts or comments known to Ian directly here:

ian.duncan@europarl.europa.eu

BRUSSELS

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