Spiders from MandRs!

It's that time of the year when the spider crabs get down to some serious assignation manouvres - which means they are caught in increasing numbers. This cracking looking crab collection are just about to be packed by MandR Crab and given a ride all the way to Chelsea SW1 (no doubt still in party mode) for tomorrow morning's slab.

Working together works!

“In an age when fisheries around the world are collapsing, fisheries experts have struggled to find the magic balance between livelihoods and conservation,” said Dr. Tim McClanahan, a co-author on the study and head of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s coral reef research and conservation program. “What we’ve found is that effective solutions require both top-down and bottom-up approaches with a foundation of community-based management.”

See the full story here 

Three different fishing boats

Three boats, three different methods of fishing, three fishing grounds.


The Louisa N is a beam trawler and has been working about 50 miles north of Newlyn at the southern end of the Celtic Deep. Fishing in that area, no doubt the boys will have been enjoying sandwiches filled with freshly boiled langoustine tails and mayonnaise.


The Silver Dawn is the port's biggest and newest steel gill netter, skipper Hosking has been working his nets north west of the Scillies for hake and other white fish like pollock, cod and ling.


From the regular pattern on the AIS the 'strings' of pots can be seen worked by the crabber Pen Glas working much closer to the shore, also north of the Scillies.

Cultural Olympiad - The Boat Project

Just some of the 12000 wood donations received from the public.

Outside the hull

The Boat Project is a living archive of people's stories and lives, a 30ft vessel made from donated wooden items. From February to July 2011 the public donated their wood to the project but not just any old wood. Pencil or piano – exotic as Zebrawood or as familiar as pine every piece had a story behind it. Donations arrived in their thousands, from the highly personal to pieces of national importance. All of these donations have been used to build a state-of-the-art seafaring yacht.

The boat, named Collective Spirit is currently on a round of publicity visits to ports and harbours around the South East, including a trip inland to Milton Keynes in July. The Boat Project is one of 12 creative concepts taking place throughout the UK as part of the Cultural Olympiad to celebrate London and 2012.

A timely reminder - safety at sea - MOB gear

With incidents involving the loss of life from three separate incidents involving fishing vessels this RNLI gives a timely reminder how best use can be made of the latest affordable, compact communications safety technology at sea.