Man and family vs seagull and family.

It's good to see that us Brits have not lost our sense of proportion. Here's a story related from Keith Dickson's Newlyn Mission blog after his visit to Mevagissey yesterday. 

"Just a quick story. The boat the Crimson Tide featured in the previous picture of Mevagissey Harbour was stopped form going to sea recently as a Seagull had built a nest on the cabin roof and laid eggs in it. English Natural Heritage and the RSPB both told the skipper he would have to wait till the chicks fledged before gong back to sea. It is nice to see that fishermen lively hood's are of secondary importance to our Seagulls well being."

Where else would the RSPCA(1824) have come into existence some 60 years before the NSPCC(1884)?

Anglian Prince sold and off to Canadian waters.

Sister ship Anglian Princess has been on contract to the MCA as an Emergency Towing Vessel and stationed in Mount's Bay untill recently.

At 1000 hours this morning the Herakles had entered the Med through the Straits of Gibralter.

If you wondered where the Anglain Prince had gone - now we know.  Britain’s last traditional salvage tug, the Anglian Prince has been sold for further service with Rederi AB Nestor of Pitea, Sweden, and managers Marine Carrier AB.  The tug left Hull docks in the UK on 14 June bearing the new name Herakles and flying the Maltese flag. It is understood that the tug was bound for Montreal and its first assignment for its new owners.

See the full story in the Maritime Journal.

The Armed Knight is watching you!

Not often you see a boat come down between the Longships and Land's End. Care needs to be taken with two semi-submerged rocks to avoid, the Shark's Fin at the Nor'ard end of the channel and the Kettle's Bottom almost midway between the Longships and the cliffs. With no ground sea running, neither are visible around high water.

Roger Nowell mending gear aboard the Semper Allegro.

Roger Nowell in his beam trawling days for Stevenson's would often do the same - challenged by boss man Billy Stevenson one evening after arriving, Roger vehemently denied having taken such a route on his way home from 'up channel' - to which Billy replied, "See, I've just been watching the local news on TSW filmed at Land's End - and guess who I could see over the shoulder of the interviewer?!!" Roger,.......... your fired.

Nominations for the Radio 4 Food Awards 2011.

Lionel points out the distinctive spots on a plaice.

Through the Gaps exists to promote fish at source and demystify the fishing industry in an increasingly complex market place. The author's intention is to provoke readers to think or think differently about how fish are caught, handled and presented for consumption and to inspire blog viewers and port visitors to become more fish aware and informed about this hugely important community. To be inspired by fish and fishing, not just as food but by the men and their boats and the lives of those who work in and around to serve the port, the lifeboat, the Mission, the places to eat, drink and shop, the art galleries - all of these contribute to the life and soul of Newlyn. Celebrate quality of life not lifestyle. Whether you catch or cook, the future of fishing is in the hands of all those involved being made more aware to meet ever increasing demands from political, environmental, economic and social change - the more informed people are, the stronger the debate.


Please take a few minutes to nominate 'Through the Gaps' in the Food Champion category of this years BBC Radio 4 Food Awards.

If only everything in fishing was black and white!

NEW DATA NOW AVAILABLE TO VIEW ON THE MARINE PLANNING PORTAL

More data has now been added to the Marine Management Organisation’s interactive and online map.

Once registered, users can select (fixed and mobile fishing gear and intensity) and then use the boxes to add comments directly to the web site.

Be sure to register with the marine planning portal which allows anyone logging on to view a range of information and locations – from details of wind farm developments to conservation areas - even fishing operations – and understand how busy our seas have become.


New information has just gone live for the following uses:

· Marine Protected Areas

· Defence and national security 

· Energy production and infrastructure development

· Ports and shipping

· Marine aggregates

· Marine dredging and disposal

· Subsea cables

· Fishing activity

· Aquaculture

· Tourism and recreation

· Marine ecology and biodiversity

· Historic environment.

Plan-making is already underway in the East Offshore and East Inshore marine plan areas - from Flamborough Head to Felixstowe – with a total of 10 marine plans to be drawn up for England over the next decade to inform and guide marine regulators and users.


The planning portal offers an easy way to be involved and contribute to marine planning. Using the controls, you can locate and then zoom in on particular areas or activities by selecting the specific data you want to see. You can also post comments and make suggestions on new data or information to inform the plans in the East of England, which are expected to take two years to finalise.


We hope as many people as possible will get online, look at the map and share any insights they may have on the evidence we will be using. The MMO will also be running a series of workshops in the East of England over the coming year which will provide opportunities for others, including those who are not online, to have their say.


You can also contact the planning team by telephone on 0191 376 2790, or email: planning@marinemanagement.org.uk

CFPO news - NFFO elects new chairman Paul Trebilcock.

Cornwall Fish Producers Organisation stalwart, Paul Trebilcock.

NFFO Elects New Chairman

The NFFO has elected Paul Trebilcock, Chief Executive of the Cornish Fish Producers’ Organisation as its new Chairman. Paul will take over the Chair next summer and in the meantime will hold the position of NFFO Chairman-Elect.

“Paul is the well-known and highly active Chief Executive of the Cornish PO and although he is probably the youngest Chairman that we have had, he comes with a wealth of experience”, said current Chairman Arnold Locker.

“We try to ensure that if we have a North Sea President, we have an Area VII Chairman and this appointment continues that useful balance”.

“Paul will be taking over at a truly critical time for our industry, with CFP reform, marine conservation zones and other vital decisions taken on his watch”.

Last week the NFFO met with the MMO for the first time to discuss a wide range of operational policing and monitoring issues.

Wide Range of Issues addressed at meeting with MMO

THE National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO)  and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) met recently at the MMO’s headquarters in Newcastle.

The NFFO said that a wide range of issues were covered including

• The design application and enforcement of management measures within marine conservation zones and special areas of conservation
• Electronic logbooks, including the development and availability of an integrated VMS/e-logbook system
• The performance of the English EFF programme
• Progress in implementing the new EU Control Regulation, including the weighing of catch provisions, 10% margin of tolerance, engine power measurement and the marking of pots
•  The application of Fisheries Administrative penalties
• New MMO arrangements to ensure that all infringements are dealt with in a timely and consistent way
•  Delivery and practicality issues associated with the Defra consultation on the future of under-10m quota management
• The MMO’s compliance and enforcement strategy
• Voluntary net tagging that could potentially reduce the impact of boardings at sea
• The impact of boardings on fishing operations

The NFFO said: “The NFFO and the MMO are agreed that there is a continued need  for pragmatic and proportionate enforcement that, so far as possible, separates minor infringements from determined and recurrent rule-breaking. Fisheries Administrative Penalties have helped to streamline the process and a new system of monthly reviews of all fisheries offences is being implemented to bring consistency and to ensure that prosecutions if they are to happen are brought forward in a timely fashion.

“The NFFO gave examples of boardings at sea which could have  been handled with greater regard  for fishing operations and the MMO welcomed this feedback. . It was agreed to reinstate liaison days with the Royal Navy’s Fisheries Protection Squadron, with port visits by fisheries protection vessels in the Irish Sea, Shoreham and Hartlepool.  The potential for repeated prosecutions for infringement of the 10% margin of tolerance –particularly for small quantities - was raised and the need for a reasonable, pragmatic and risk based approach was underlined by the Federation.

“It was agreed to discuss further the details of a voluntary net tagging scheme which potentially could reduce the time and anxiety of net measurements at sea.

“The navigational chaos that could result from implementation of the new Control Regulation requirements on flags, radar reflectors and lights on dhans marking pots was emphasised. The huge cost and navigational consequences of vessels confronting a ‘city of light’ and a ‘snowstorm of radar signals’ underlined the need for a practical solution.

“The Federation said that this  was a constructive meeting which aimed to make the best out of a management system that is over-complex, in places fundamentally irrational, and certainly far removed from the practicalities of fishing; but is the law - until that law can be changed. The MMO has faced a difficult baptism of fire but the meeting showed that there is at least a strong will to temper the rough edges of the CFP without abandoning the core purpose of enforcing fisheries regulations.

The Federation will be meeting the MMO to continue this dialogue at regular intervals.”

Fresh Newlyn crab meat from M and R Crab.

Newlyn has seen the fleet of boats (local and visiting) that fish for brown crab and scallops increase in size over the last five years - to such an extent that shellfish landings now amount for nearly a fifth of the port's total income. One company to take advantage of these more regular supplies, is the Newlyn family firm of M and R Crab. Started by Mike and Rose Dyer - who will best be remembered by some for their part in the mackerel handlline fishery back in the 1970s when they supplied many crews with sets of handmade mackerel 'feathers' - a real cottage industry at the time.

Inshore brown crab straight from the pot.

With the introduction of the mackerel box and changes in mackerel fishing patterns, the family business diversified and formed M and R Crab to handle shellfish for the small fleet of inshore potters back in 1982.  Since then they have specialised in hand picking crab to order, often delivered within hours of being cooked and picked!

Dan and Mark Dyer

Responsible Fishing Scheme - Today's more discerning markets increasingly demand high standards in quality and sourcing fish from ethically fished boats -so these days the business runs in the safe hands of son Mark and son-in-law Dan who work closely with the fleet of RFS accredited Rowse crabbers in the port as well as a myriad of inshore and small cove boats working pots around the rocky coastline of West Penwith.

The boys shun the speed and ease of mechanically picked crab which results in a dry meat - hand picked remains moist and succulent and retains more flavour.  Early orders for fresh MandR crab meat can be taken online or over the phone to allow for the daily delivery service to Cornwall and the UK.