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Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Out and back - Algrie's trip after long refit cut short



Penlee lifeboat, Ivan Ellen went to the aid of the beam trawler Algrie after she broke down 7 miles south of Newlyn on what was effectively her maiden voyage after a long refit.

BBC criticised for CFP ‘distortion’

THE NFFO feels aggrieved by the media coverage of the forthcoming CFP reform and contends that even the BBC have been taking an approach that undermines their reputation for impartiality. (The recent BBC story covering the eating of red meat report from the US was a recent case of poor reporting as subsequent stories revealed)


According to the federation, the broadcaster: “has succumbed to a facile heroes and villains script which pits a crusading European Commission, aided by selfless environmentalists, against an unholy alliance of a rapacious fishing industry, supported by complicit or spineless ministers from those member states with fishing interests. The Commission’s proposals, according to this script, represent the pinnacle of environmental virtue. 


Anyone opposing the Commission’s drive towards mandatory obligation for all stocks to be fished at MSY, a ban on discards or tradable fishing quotas is either, craven, tainted, or wrongheaded.” The truth, the federation continues, lies elsewhere. Maximum sustainable yield may be a noble political aspiration but all fisheries scientists know that it is a flawed and limited concept when applied to the complex realities of multi-species fisheries. 


Fisheries managers would be foolish indeed to tie their hands to biomass levels that may be affected by many other factors than fishing. That is why the two simple but critically important words “where possible” were included in the Johannesburg agreement and should be retained now. A system of mandatory EU transferable fishing concessions will be rejected by member states because it is exactly this type of inflexible top-down command and control approach to managing fisheries that lies at the heart of the CFP’s underperformance over the last 20 years. In any event, the evidence is far from convincing that transferable quotas lead, on their own, to fleet reductions. 


The most obvious European examples of TFCs have been preceded or accompanied by large scale vessel scrapping schemes using public money so it is difficult to see what caused what. And calls for a discard ban that ignore the different reasons for discards including the EU’s own fisheries regulations, and therefore the need for a range of different solutions, amount to so much saloon bar bluster. Real progress has been made in reducing discards and the focus should be on maintaining this momentum rather an approach that is 98% PR gesture. 


The story that you are not likely to read or hear about in the media is that, despite the hostile press, fishermen are working on a daily basis with fisheries scientists and fisheries managers, within a seriously dysfunctional system, to improve fishing gear and fishing systems.


(Plenty of examples have been reported on Through the Gaps re the work of Cefas etc)


Neither are you likely to hear about the huge progress that has been made over that past 10 years to rebuild depleted stocks, or that many stocks are at or close to their maximum yield. It is possible to turn the simplistic pantomime villain theme on its head by observing that the CFP's calamitous record on resource policies, until the very recent past, has been intimately tied in to the Commission's unswerving commitment to a top-down command and control approach, which is continued in these three aspects of the reform package.  And, whilst the fishing industry is well experienced in working collaboratively with environmental NGOs in the RACs, the interventions of the Pew Foundation, an organisation brought into existence in the 1930s to oppose Roosevelt's New Deal and export American values, has been to cheer on this failed approach.


Story courtesy of FishNewsEU.

Jubileeation? Fish market shuts for long weekend


The market won't look like this until the 6th June - next Wednesday - as it will be closed for the extended Bank Holiday period this weekend - get your fish orders in early!

Cheeky monks

A good sign, a deserted fish grader.......
the auction in full swing......
selling soles now graded to perfection........
next stage is to get some printed tallies like what they 'av at Brixham Baz......
bet these little beauties are for sale across the road at P&J Tonkin's later today......
cod don't get any more golden than these......
or blacker fish than these......
sweet monk cheeks, stars of Paul Ainsworth's Great British Menu's fish dish last night with his gladiatorial take on monk.....
and a big solid monk tail - gadzooks, zounds! - sacrilege Yan, I know......
Floyd favourites, cracking red gurnards that not so long ago would have been sweating in tubs down the quay on the deck of a local crabber - they can't afford them for bait any more......
it's hake promotion time with a mid-tide shot of fish from the netter Ajax......
one punt heads out Through the Gaps.......
a few weeks off for the crystal Sea II for a paint up and overhaul......
neat little wooden sail boat en passant......
the old raft has finally relinquished its grip on the waters of the harbour.......
two different hulls from two different eras.......
Lionel, a man on a mission.

Mourning Saturday morning memorable Mission moments.

No more cheerful Saturday morning cha and chat with the girls....


Here's the disastrous news from the Mission skipper in Newlyn......






No more grumpy old gits...
"We announced in the mission yesterday a change in our operation.


No more quiet games of Euchre...
 We will no longer have the canteen open on Saturday mornings.  

No more refuge for yellow wellies......
All of the Missions around the country, that have canteens, are working to this model as well.

No more skipper hauled out of bed to cover for poorly Friday night, Saturday morning staff...
Thank you to everyone that has supported us on Saturdays and urge you to continue that support for this charity during the week." 


Keith at the Mission control.


PS The Mission will be open of course as usual from Mondays to Fridays serving fine tea, good food and bon hommie!