A few crocodiles on the market this morning

Waterford registered, WD18 Rony, landed the first big shot of prawns on the market for many years....
while alongside the market the quay was alive with the mackerel men in a hurry to get their fish ashore and sold...
Grimmy Mike, making the news recently by voicing his intentions to retire from fishing, is currently touring the county promoting all things fish and fishing to the local community via schools and museums - he will be giving a short talk at Penlee Museum Penzance this weekend as a part of the Cornwall Museum's traveling show.... keeping a beady eye on the proceedings in the auction hall, one of the Rony's prawns.....

the prawns generated much interest from the buyers on the market with crocodiles (the biggest!) making over £8 per kilo....

Manic Monday

listing to port with a dollop of mackerel on board the Mark & James heads for the market....
and Mark supervises the careful landing of his mornings work....
meanwhile on the Nantewas Roger struggles with the ice chute...
a casual Mr Morley makes his way up the harbour....
on the Katie Clare the needles are out.....
plenty of slush ice goes back in the harbour....
mission control in the ice-works headquarters....
end-to-end boxes on the auction floor.....

With the weather relatively settled over tha last few days coinciding with the end of the neap tide the market was end-to-end with fish this morning - here the CKS leaves the ice-works berth.

And the scaffolding rises yet more...

Back in through the gaps, the Gary M heads for the market to get her first shot ashore....
the punt boys have enjoyed a pleasant evening out in the Bay....
a modern take on the punt, a 5m cat with 5 jiggers aboard steams in.....
fresh warp gets stretched down the length of the quay to be marked, the marks allow the crew to know how much warp has been run off the winch - a mark every 25 fathoms alternating between double and single marks to avoid confusion....
most of the Rowse fleet are in port....
the Everte-Maartje has joined the rest of the beamer fleet on the North Quay.

Sacks on the quayside - the scallopers hit town!

Over in Penzance dry dock basin the old warehouse development is beginning to take shape......
inshore trawlers and scallopers from up the line take fuel......
and land a pile of scallops to the waiting transport...
here the Fleetwood registered Pisces and Betty G from Exeter wait alongside a laid-up beamer....
working 7 dredges a side these highly efficient inshore boats.

The scaffolding is up around Newlyn light in the gaps

Spotted at on the end berth of the pontoons, what look like two home-built sail-boats - you wouldn't want to go round the corner in anything other than a flat calm in these......but it has later transpired that these two derring-doers left Plymouth around 9 am Tuesday morning before arriving in Newlyn on Thursday evening!
in through the gaps comes the Brixham registered scalloper, Lerina BM166.... 
over on the slip, the Anneliese gets her bottom scrubbed.....
while a couple of netters and the inshore trawler Cathryn lay against the market......
Grimmy Mike steams in past the lighthouse, now shrouded in scaffolding and ready for a paint job.

The Subways - Music inspired by the fisherman of Newlyn

Great to see the port of Newlyn continues to influence the creative juices of artists around the world - read how Billy from The Subways saw a TV programme on fishing in Newlyn while ill in Germany and decided to come back to stay in the port and write more song material - see it's not only omega 3 oils that are good for the soul!

Nice one Billy!

Mackerel make merry in the Bay

Boxes of shining mackerel fill the decks of the punt fleet for those who touched on the samll shoals this morning....
the Viddy is one of the boats that has had a good morning on the mackerel....

many hands make light work, well two at least get the fish into the auction quickly to catch the sale....
where the fish need sorting into grades: large, large medium, medium and small...