Some of the guys are a fair few miles off to the South'ard.

VesselTracker's AIS screen shot shows just how far south some of the boats work from Newlyn. Of course, the Breton guys reciprocate and often steam north of Land'sEnd before they dip their gear in the water. 

Sheryll Murray's husband, Neil dies at sea aboard his trawler, Our Boy Andrew.

Our Boy Andrew, skippered by Looe fisherman Neil Murray.
Photo courtesy of Martin Johns, Plymouth.

Two incidents, 500 miles apart, in the last 24 hours have once again highlighted the need to continue local not central Coastguard services.

Earlier today, the body of MP Sheryll Murray's husband has been brought ashore after his vessel, Our Boy Andrew was reported overdue on Thursday evening. Ironically, yesterday evening, Mrs Murray was speaking in the Commons at the start of the debate when she declared a 'special interest' to the house in that her husband, a commercial fisherman and all those who worked on the sea owed a special debt to the Coastguard Service, the National Coastwatch Institution, RNLI and all those agencies that looked after the safety of seafarers. She cannot have imagined at the time how appropriate those words were to be in the circumstances.

The MCA immdiately launched an investigation into the incident.

Meanwhile, in Cumbria today during the Aquila tragedy (with the loss of three men)enquiry, it has come to light that at the start of the search for the missing vessel  there was some confusion over the exact location of the vessel - this was quickly resolved - but a chilling reminder of just how easily this sort of confusion can turn what might be a problem into a disaster through wasting time and resources - having a centralised co-ordination centre with no local knowledge could have dire consequences when lifeboats and SAR services need to be given accurate information.

Video extracted from MCA safety podcasts - see the whole series here on their YouTube Channel.

Neil Murray appeared in an MCA safety video targeting the wearing of lifesavers by fishermen - in particular those who worked single handed. 

Updated article in the Plymouth Herald with comments from fellow fishermen including Fishing News journalist, Phil Lockley.

Carved in stone - initials in granite.

Many granite kerb stones in Penzance have a single letter.......

or what seem to be initials carved in them........

but why?

Electronic logbooks - what you need to know.

Coming soon - UK implementation of electronic logbook reporting - for boats over 15m.

Under the new electronic catch reporting system - catch log data transmitted ashore will will need to match what's in the fishroom .

The obligation for the installation of an electronic logbook system is set out in:




•Council Regulation 1966/2006 (PDF 100 KB)


•Council Regulation 1006/2008 (PDF 116 KB)


•Commission Regulation 1077/2008 (PDF 120 KB)


•Council Regulation 1224/2009 (PDF 1.8 MB).


Electronic logbooks will replace paper logbooks, which will be withdrawn. Vessels will have to submit all daily activity by midnight UTC. This applies whether a vessel is fishing or not during the voyage, and in any waters.

All fishing activity submitted electronically may be viewed by Royal Navy patrol vessels as well as fisheries administration and enforcement staff. The information submitted will be also available to inspectors of other member states of the EU and third countries while vessels are in their waters.

Approved software has been available in the UK since May 2010. We expect owners of vessels over 24 metres overall length to demonstrate their intention to comply no later than 1 October 2010, either by having approved software installed and working, or by being able to provide evidence of taking specific steps to having a system installed.

Vessels over 15 metres overall length are not currently required to be compliant, but should anticipate the dates by which they should by ordering electronic logbook systems within reasonable time. Vessels over 15 metres overall length that fish outside Community waters should have the software installed by 1 January 2011 and over 15 metres overall length that do not fish outside of Community waters should have the software installed by 1 July 2011.

Grant aid is currently available towards the cost of the electronic logbook software for vessels over 15 metres overall length. Only approved software is eligible for grant aid.

Approved software has been through an extensive testing process commissioned by the UK fisheries administrations testing agent, National Computer Centre Group. This is to ensure that it meets the published specification required to communicate with the central system – the UK Hub.

For more information, please see the step-by-step guide on how to comply with the electronic logbook legislation and apply for a grant aid.

Key dates

The regulations set out the obligations on member states to introduce submission of:

•electronic sales notes (eSales Notes) from 1 January 2009

•electronic logbooks from 1 January 2010 for vessels over 24 metres overall length

•electronic logbooks from 1 January 2011 for vessel over 15 metres overall length that operate outside of Community waters

•electronic logbooks from 1 July 2011 for vessels over 15 metres overall length

•there will still need to be paper logbook records kept for vessels 15 metres or less in length and paper sales notes for companies with a turnover of less then €400,000 a year.

While the primary driver is compliance with EU and UK regulations, successful implementation will result in:

•real time catch information from electronic logbooks, leading to improved data quality as well as onward marketing of their catch (traceability)

•access to own electronic records on catch as well as fish sold

•availability of cumulative data for the UK fishing industry

•reductions in fishing industry effort in the regulatory burden

•more effective monitoring, control and surveillance operations at sea and on land as a result of being able to cross check landing declarations and sales notes more quickly and comprehensively to establish the origin of fish

•improved data sharing between EU member states and third countries

•better data set of fishing activity maintained by EU member states and third countries

•online registration of buyers and sellers

•improved data quality and more timely monitoring of quotas as a consequence of reduction of the current requirement for considerable re-entry of data by the UK fisheries administrations.

Self contained - Light in the Bay.

As the season changes most mornings this week have seen a fog of varying strength cover Mount's Bay.....

giving off a warm glow over water that is still less than 10 degrees........

pause for thought........

Iceberg couldn't resist the Twilight's megrim soles ........

as fish made good money on a quiet market with many of the fleet not at sea over the huge tides of the past few days........

what fish was there soon went.......

not often on show, a set of male ray's 'claspers' used to wrestle with a member of the opposite sex in conjugation......

there's some serious repairs going on down the not so new, New Quay, or Mary Williams pier to give it its full title......

more machinery needing repair or replacement.......

Britannia IV makes her way off to sea.......

and it won't be long before the Cornishman joins her........

for enlightenment, why not check out selfcontainedblogspot.com?

Kessenuma - a port and community almost entirely dependent on fish.

As the intial shockwaves, both literal and figurative, subside in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake, fishing ports like Kessenuma look to the future in an uncertain climate. If ports like Newlyn consider themselves big and important in relation to the GDP of Cornwall, consider the part played by Kessenuma - home to 68,00 residents of which 25,000 work in the fishing industry - the one port alone considerably bigger than the entire UK fishing industry, both shore and sea side!

Morning light.

 Another warm morning........

that looks cooler to the West.