MPA day at the Fisheries Resource Centre in Newlyn next Monday

Knowledge is power so the saying goes, if that's the case then a visit to the Cornwall Fisheries Resource Centre next Wednesday will provide an opportunity to find out more about Marine Protected Areas (MPA).

If you have any questions, local ex-fisherman, Spike Searle from Finding Sanctuary (sounds more like a tree-hugger's retreat than an organisation dedicated to the well-being of marine life and not to be confused with findingsanctuary ) will be available between 11am and 8pm to discuss their mission to create a network of MPAs in the seas around South West England.

Landing at night and Timmy's not a happy bunny.

Just what the boats don't need after days at sea on arriving to land their fish on a deserted quayside in the dark - searching the length and breadth of the fish market the boys from the Gary M eventually found just enough palettes on which to put their fish into the cold store......
when landing at low water, and with hundreds of pounds of fish per box, care needs to be taken to see that the boxes do not tip back into the harbour.....
skipper Timmy Boyle watches from the deck as the boxes are stacked carefully......
and pulled out of the darkness into a brightly lit market hall.....
the cold store is choked with the fish from other landings tonight......
under plenty of floodlights over on the slip, work continues well into the night on the classic sail boat Ruth where several sheets of copper sheathing have been removed to allow the shipwrights to caulk the hull......
her huge bowsprit points upwards from the slip.

BBC TV's Inside Inside Out does Newlyn and the proposed new fishmarket.

One for the diary or your Sky+ - next Monday, 2nd November on BBC1 at 7.30pm - the regional current affairs programme Inside Out has a piece on the proposed new fish market in Newlyn which explores some events leading to the current position and looks at the key issues and players behind the proposal. Should make for interesting viewing - it is likely that this previou posts, provides some of the context of this programme.

Not so funny is the strange case of the shrinking nets

Of great cause for concern amongst the trawler fleet is the case of the shrinking nets. Since the introduction of the new Omega digital net measuring apparatus many boats are fishing that their net mesh sizes are shrinking in a way that was not apparent before. BBC Cornwall has the full story.

Marine reserves update

Phil McMullen, BBC science corespondent amplifies the debate surrounding the possible introduction of more marine reserves. Under the heading 'food security', a term which perhaps more than anything best describes how the need to protect the world's global food resources, the article provides a broader view of the pressures under which fishing operates today. Thinking about how the next, and successive, generations of fishermen might want to operate should help galvanise thoughts and minds over planning for the future.



What will always irk fishermen however, is if these discussions result in more legislation, rules and controls that are inequitable in allocation - for example, where Spanish or French boats might be given access to and larger quotas for particular species in an area from which local boats operate with greatly reduced quotas and tighter controls. Consequently, the poor, but improving relationship between the scientists who carry out the research and produce the data from which these measures are introduced and the fishermen needs to be given a makeover so that the catchers feel their knowledge of fish and fishing grounds is taken into account somewhere in the equation.



Locally, the work of CEFAS does excellent work in developing a working two-way relationship with the boats, something that should be commended by all parties and used as an example of good practice.

Lazy legwork from Lelant Saltings to St Ives

St Ives rowing lifeboat now on its winter mooring......
along with the Petti Fox......
showing her superb pilot cutter lines...
which are very different to the Dolly Pentreath, (currently up for sale contact 07712 386162) a 1992 replica of the St Ives lugger Godrevey......
with her very different hull lines built to take the beach in St Ives.......
one of these days the branch line from St Erth to St Ives will play host to steam engines......
with an incoming tide the shove;ls are out on the beach under the Carbis Bay Hotel.....
all the restaurants make good use of local produce as does the Porthminster Beach Cafe.....

want to try some CelebrationFood and you won't go wrong with the delights of a 'Winter Chill' burger at Blas in St Ives (about as far removed from the BigM variety as you can imagine)......
plenty of contemporary art galleries to browse while in the town......

including this huge chapel that now houses the St Ives Society of Artists' work......

out in the harbour the fleet are tied up and dried out.

Tuesday morning

A few gulls wait for the sun to appear......
in a fresh southerly breeze......
there's many hours work on this trawl before it can be joined to the footrope.....
was MAFF, was DEFRA, now the MFA and continuing their work gathering catch data.....
Mr Quality himself, Scorpio skipper Danny Phillips tops of the landing with a final layer of ice just before these superb red mullet, brilliant red gurnard and pollack go for auction.....
maybe someone can help the kids out at Pendeen School withe their request for an old boat.....
one set of nets with heavily weeded ends that must have been in the water for some time.....
young Mr Hicks passes another one of life's milestones, bet Mum tucked him in again......
a contemporary take on the traditional three flying ducks on a wall might just make an ideal Christmas present.....
or even a gannet, courtesy of Badcock's Gallery currently showing some of Jessica Cooper's work.....
shut for the week, the Mission is only open between 10-12 while a some new showers are installed and the foyer re-built......
just to the right of the Red Lion pub is the original Fishermen's Mission.