And it's not just here in the UK.

How about filling your restuarant menu full of blacklisted fish? That's just what an American restaurant Legal Sea Foods, a 30-restaurant East Coast seafood chain based in Boston is doing this weekend!

Cornish fish and chips best in the UK - almost!

Camelford based Peck'ish Fish and Chip shop in North Cornwall have gained second place in this year's Seafish industry awards!

Robert Peck began his career in the mid 90s working in his local fish and chip shop as an assistant fryer.

In 1998 he set up his own mobile fish and chip business serving the villages of North Dorset. The business grew to such a point that Rob was able to sell it and buy his own takeaway and restaurant in Bournemouth. This business was then refurbished and became a great success but by 2008 it was time to move on.

Rob and his wife Louise moved to Camelford in November of 2008 and took ownership of the town's fish and chip shop. After being refurbished and rebranded as 'Peckish' it reopened in mid January 2009 and has thrived ever since.

In June of the same year Peckish became the first fish and chip shop in North Cornwall to obtain the 5-star Fryers Quality Award. this is the highest accolade Seafish give.

THV Patricia at anchor.

In Mount's Bay over the weekend till she sailed at 11pm - not often the Trinity House vessel Patricia anchors this close to the shore, the MCA's Anglian Princess in the distance.

Empty quays - always a good sign.

Always a good sign, empty quays means the fleet are at sea!.......

except the net fleet of course as there's a full moon and a big tide........

a chance for the inshore boats to fill the market with quality fish......

like this solitary red mullet in prime condition......

or you could go for the best fish cake fish of the lot, the dreaded conger.......

good to see the Golden Harvest back in action again under skipper Alan (ex-Ajax).......

one of the fish that our current fisheries minister, Richard Benyon failed to identify on Billingsgate market for Hugh F-W during one of last week programmes - not a tough one given those bright orange spots you would have thought.

Mackerel at Jewell's? - not just yet.

These cracking fish from David Pascoe's Little Pearl, medium mackerel at £2.00 per kilo would be perfect for Hugh's fish and chip shop campaign......

as would these large which made around £3.60........

just round the corner in Newlyn's one and only fish and chip shop, there's no sign of the Mack-Bap appearing on the menu at Jewell's Fish & Chips as yet!.......

but his lobbying pin is firmly in place on the Mackerel Mission page!

Another legendary bar - this time in new Zealand.

Video footage has come to light showing two boats crossing the Greymouth River Bar in extreme weather, this was the same system that wrought havoc over Australia. The river was in flood and measured at 8 knots, giving the skippers a few moments to ponder as the boats crossed what is one of the most notoriously dangerous bars in Australasia.  At least three fishermen have died trying to cross it in recent years, and a monument has since been erected in Greymouth.


Watch the video.

Fish sales soar!

All the major supermarkets have seen a dramatic increase in wet fish sales - and th good news for the south west is that fish like mackerel, sprats (being caught of Brixham at the moment) and Dover soles are amongst the market leaders. As reported earlier, buyers at the big stores were wrong footed in the wake of the public's buying reaction to the FishFight programmes which has seen lesser known fish being asked for at the fish counters up and down the UK.

It's a shame hake didn't get a good mention in any of the programmes - given the weak market for the fish as a drect result of a depressed Spanish market - many of the Cornish net boats continue to shy away from chasing hake.

We've yet to see any official response from the fisheries organisations here in the South West. Papers in the other regions are reporting favourable comments from up and down the coast - Grimsby - Aberdeen.