Flag of convenience boat, Monte Zanteu lands on a murky March Monday morning in Newlyn.

Just in through the gaps, Trevessa IV heads for the market a few hours before high water to land...

tope are just one of over 40 species of fish landed on Newlyn every week of the year...

evry kind of ray...

from shagreen...

to small eye...

the mighty colourful cuckoo wrasse

sport highly developed teeth to crush shellfish like limpets... 

more ray...

and more ray from the inshore boats...

and a full-fat conger...

om landed just the one cod, a fish that seems to have moved ever northwards over the years so that even at this time of year very few are caught...

that's a fine pair of pairs...

cracking red mullet from the seiner...

while the Dovers came courtesy of the only beam trawler to land ove the weekend...

the now plentiful haddock are always a feature of seining trips...

it's a good mix if fish stacked and ready to go...

just handful of pent men braved a rather blustery weekend to put ashore a few top quality boxes of fosh like the grey mullet...

pollack...

and mackerel...

whole monk...

and hake finished off the Accionna's trip...

now at the fish market...

the boys on the Trvessa IV get busy before they land to overhaul the gear in preparation for the next trip...

Accioanna at rest...

along with a few visitors...

the Mary Williams pier is busy enough with weather-bound boats...

and the Fleetwood registered longliner Monte Zanteu...

which made the first of her obligatory UK landings...

to the back of the waiting Spanish transport which will cross the Channel by ferry before taking her fish all the way back to Spain. Once 2025 arrives she, and the many other flagged vessels that fish in the Western Approaches and off Ireland will be landing 80% of their trips to UK ports. Newlyn is the most convenient in terms of proximity to the lucrative grounds but will need some serious infrastructure development if it is to cope with so many of these larger vessels landing here on a regular basis.

 

‘Value of Seafood to Cornwall’ highlights 8,000 fishing dependant jobs!

Did you know seafood is four times more important to Cornwall’s economy than it is to the UK’s as a whole? Home to one of the most diverse, sustainable fleets in Europe, Cornwall lands over fifty different species every year – a first sale value of £50 million.

Fishing remains the lifeblood of our coastal communities. It serves as a vital source of food security, is intrinsically linked to tourism and hospitality and makes up one of the most significant industries in the county.

But, what is the true economic importance of seafood to Cornwall?

The CFPO commissioned a piece of research to find out the sector’s true value. Here are the results:

 

The ‘Value of Seafood to Cornwall’ report came after the Cornish Fishing Strategy revealed four key areas of focus post-Brexit; science & sustainability, port infrastructure, recruitment & retention and communications & marketing. Overall, the Cornish seafood sector contributes £174 million to the county’s total gross value added. It employs around 8 thousand jobs, which means for every fisherman at sea in Cornwall there are 15 more jobs on shore. The remarkable findings of this research demonstrate how integral Cornwall’s seafood sector is to the Cornish economy, employment and other high-value sectors in the county. The report will better inform regional and national decision making and help drive strategic investment into the continued development of Cornwall’s seafood sector.

First #FishyFriday in March - in like a lion!

Them is some serious showers heading towards the Lizard this morning...

though things aren't looking much better closer to home...

with the netters in port over the big tide, all this morning's fish like these huge Dovers was from trawl and beam trawl boats...

ink everywhere, a hazard for the delicate scales and skin of red mullet when the cod end is also full of cuttles...

first time landing for the Belgian beam trawler...

Artevelde on the market...

tradition has it that these boats hang their cod ends up to dry once the boat is back in port and tied up...

she arrived on the sole ground off Trevose earlier this week, 15 hours after leaving Ostend at midnight on the 23rd of February...

and landed yesterday, the usual mix of flats that you would expect from fishing up-channel...

whereas Our Charlie Mia fished much closer to home just south of Lands End...

making up the landings of top quality fish was the St Georges with these cracking monk tails...

big fish, big tail...

a few inshore boats managed to brave the weather and catch a few oily fish like these herring...

and mackerel...

one fine flat...

the scourge of the deckhand that gets to wash down the fishroom or market floor, cuttle ink gets everywhere...

once upon a time, when there were nearly 30 beam trawlers working from the port, megrim soles were the premier species by value landed in Newlyn...

monk tails ran a close second...

visiting inshore boats, Four Sons and the Jacqui A...

also a long way from home, the seine netter Acionna...

and the Enterprise at rest...

time to step aboard, young Mr Pender gets a helping hand...

from St Georges skipper Peter Elsworth...

modern hulls dwarf those of old...

"back to back they faced each other".

Monday morning in Newlyn after a blast from the North!

Strong NNE winds push scudding clouds over the harbour as a new set of shoes make their way down the quay to a waiting beamer...

a man and his machine...

fishing almost to the top of the spring tide, the Stelissa...

and Silver Dawn put ashore plenty of hake......

handline fish were few and far between owing to the inclement weather over the weekend...

in addition to the net caught hake the Revival, the first Scottish prawn boat to visit this year landed their whitefish for auction...

which helped the range of fish available to this morning's buyers like these beam trawl monk tails...

scallops...

John Dory...

and octopi...

as is common practice with the Scottish boats, the Revival landed her monk head-on...

Spectrum 4, windfarm service vessel on passage...

if your beam trawl comes fast on wreckage and parts the warp, this is the size of the creep needed to pick it up, if luck is with you, you'll pick up the lost trawl up on the first pass, if not, it can be a tedious process...

first time visit for the prawn trawler Revival which is the replacement vessel...

for the previous boat of the same name and number, a regular visitor for the short langoustine season over the last five years...

the continuing offshore NNE breeze sends the local gull population wheeling off the gaps...

and surrounds the Mount with a sea of white horses.

 

Celtic Sea and Western Channel Pelagic FMP – request for stakeholder expertise

 

MMO’s Evidence and Evaluation Team are leading engagement for the Celtic Sea and Western Channel Pelagic FMP, a joint plan between Defra and the Welsh Government due for publication in 2025. This plan covers herring, pilchard, greater silver smelt, horse mackerel and anchovy within ICES areas 7e, 7f, 7g, 7h (Welsh and English waters only).

The MMO team will be forming a partnership to draw on the expertise of stakeholders to develop the plan, including fishers. They are looking for people that can represent their sector (by port, gear, or Fisherman’s Association) as a partnership member. This would involve roughly 3-4 in-person meetings where you would be contributing to the development of management measures and contributing your knowledge about this fishery at key stages of the FMP’s development. Meetings will be held in the afternoon/evening, and you can expect them to last between 2-4 hours.

If you don’t want to be in the partnership but think there is someone from your community that would represent your interests, perspectives, and concerns well instead, you can let the team know using the below email address and they will contact them on your behalf. Outside of the partnership, members of the MMO team will be joining RFG port visits throughout the year to come and talk to you and sending out email updates at key stages of the FMP’s development.

You can email the MMO team leading the engagement at: cswcpelagicfmp@marinemanagement.org.uk or let them know if you would prefer a phone call and they will arrange this.