Give the Co-op credit!

Given their much loved presence in Newlyn as suppliers of grub for many of the boats over the years, Through the Gaps asked the Co-operative for their position on discards and sustainably sourced fish in the light of last weeks Channel 4 campaign. They came back with a very positive response:

Thank you for your enquiry following the recent television programmes on the Fish Fight.

The Co-operative, which applies its unique Responsible Fish Sourcing Policy to all its own-brand fish, including canned and frozen, and all own-brand products containing fish, such as sandwiches, is supporting the campaign to reform the Common Fisheries Policy.  At present, half of all fish caught in the North Sea is being discarded because of the current quota system imposed by the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
We are already working to reduce discards by supporting the Cumbria Discard Reduction Programme, an innovative project co-ordinated by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS). This project brings together scientists and fishermen to develop solutions to reduce fishery discards. The Co-operative is co-funding the project which will work with the Cumbrian nephrops (scampi) fishery to reduce discards in the Irish Sea in 2011. A similar CEFAS project, Project 50%, has already been very successful in reducing discards of the Devon beam-trawl fishery, with discard rates falling by more than 52%. Both 50 % and the Cumbrian project were commissioned and funded by Defra,
In December 2010, we committed to sourcing 100 per cent of our own-brand canned tuna from fisheries employing the sustainable pole and line fishing method by the end of 2013. Pole and line fishing is a selective way of catching tuna without the bycatch issues associated with other catch methods, and therefore has the potential to be the most environmentally and socially-sound method of fishing tuna.
In 2008, The Co-operative established a £200,000 fund to help UK fisheries complete the Marine Stewardship Council certification process to support a sustainable UK fishing industry. The first of these to receive MSC certification was the North Menai Strait mussel fishery, in November 2010. With support from The Co-operative, nine fisheries are currently under full MSC assessment, and the entire Sussex inshore fishery (including 26 separate fisheries) has completed the MSC pre-assessment, whilst one further fishery is undergoing pre-assessment.
The Co-operative tops the latest Marine Conservation Society (MCS), a UK charity dedicated to the protection of seas, shores and wildlife, league table of supermarkets for supporting and selling sustainably-sourced fish. Additionally, we are the only retailer to have eliminated all fish from the MCS Good Fish Guide’s “fish to avoid” list, and have the largest percentage of sales from the MCS’s “fish to eat” list.

I hope this goes someway to assuring you of our commitment to this cause.

Yours sincerely

Rosemary Moss

A black and white and reds sort of morning.

 Early start for the fuel man topping up the tanks aboard the Sapphire....... 

 outside the Nellie the survey vessel, Meridian is back in port.......

 there's black everywhere.........

 nicely contrasted arrangement from the Corin ship........

with a selection of the finest red fish species on the market, a good run of red tub gurnards to the left and boxes of red mullet to the right.......

 quality shines through, inshore trawl fish from the Harvest Reaper, landed at 8pm last night according to the tally......

 looks like the Sapphire clipped those scallop beds again..... 

 interested tour party get the low down on the morning's fish sale.

Penlee's pedallers - saddle sores - not us!

Six members of Penlee’s volunteer RNLI lifeboat crew are training in preparation for a gruelling 50 mile cycle around the hills, valleys, twists and turns of the west Cornwall peninsula on Saturday 29 January for the charity’s SOS Day.

The Swift On Saddles challenge will take the intrepid crew from the lifeboat station in Newlyn, up the A30 to St Ives, along to Lands End and finally back to the station. Meanwhile, other members of the volunteer crew will be doing their annual Soap Our Saloons car wash between 10am and 4pm at the inshore lifeboat station. Here people can get their cars washed by the crew while enjoying a hotdog from their Sizzle Our Sausages BBQ.

Patrick Harvey, RNLI Coxswain at Penlee lifeboat station says the team, made up of volunteer crewmembers, David Raymond, Sam Gillchrest, Zac Haining, Wayne Davey, Paul Kneebone, are determined to finish the 50 mile route in under eight hours, he says; ‘We’ve been training hard in the gym and on our bikes, every weekend we have done a long ride, it was especially hard going in the wind and rain we had on Saturday. Some of the hills are long and steep; it’s going to be very tough, but we want to finish within our time limit and get back in time to enjoy a burger on the BBQ!’

So far the crew have raised over £600 in sponsorship, but need help to reach their target of £2,000 which will go towards the training and equipment the volunteer crew and lifeguards need to do their lifesaving work safely. There’s no shortage of options in supporting the crew; visit www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/penleehttp://www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/penlee , fill out one of the many sponsorship forms in Newlyn or pay a visit to the boathouse to make a donation.

At the Centre of things - hear it straight from the Commissioners.

There's an open invitation for an audience with Newlyn Pier and Harbour Commissioners at The Centre in Newlyn, February 7th (Monday evening) at 6pm courtesy of the Cornishman newspaper - Editor Jacqui Walls will host an open meeting - fishermen, local residents and any other interested parties are cordially invited to attend, listen and ask questions.

The evening will start with a presentation from Gilbert McCabe, chair of the commissioners who will be outlining new proposals for the port. Afterwards, there will be a chance to question those members of the board who are present.

Any questions or any comments can be fed to the meeting in advance via Cornishman staff reporter and Newlyn corespondent, Ellie Evans at the newspaper's office on 01736 365824 or via email eevans@c-dm.co.uk.

Boy Curtis, Mr Bass!

 There's big moon over the harbour this morning.......

 to greet the Billy Rowney, plenty of work lined up aboard her to sort the winch problems she has returned to port with - hence the derricks being lashed to the rail......

 giving her a port list........

 early start for the Ocean Spray as she takes ice.......

 hot foot from the sale........

 and a happy Mr Curtis senior as the price ranged all the way up to £9 per kilo........

 as Robin Turner finishes of auctioning over 700kg of bass landed by the trawler Elisabeth Veronique, one of those hauls every trawler skipper wants to enjoy!.........

 big tub gurnard, a cheaper alternative to bass when baked whole buried on sea salt

at the other end of the market the Filadelfia landed a good shot of monk.

Some work for the FishFight campaign!

Still the biggest ad in the fish and chip shop window is for cod and chips - an opportunity for the Cornish FishFight mac bap campaign!

Sat am.

 Pigeon post, the plague of Penzance Dry Dock.......

 undergoing her major transformation,the Jacoba is now sporting a new PZ registration......

 the "thickest 1/4 plate" in the west,still waiting to go in the Dolomite.........

 a helping hand, but where is George?..........

 a quick turnaround for the Elisabeth Veronique........

 clear skies and cool hues...... 

 fill the Bay........

 and cover the Orion Art Gallery.........

 under the waning moon.