Make mine a Mac!

 Take a mackerel and fillet - dredge with flour both sides and fry in a little oil in a heavy fry pan skin side first for a few minutes till cooked half way through - easy to see - while cooking sprinkle with chopped rosemary - turn the fillets over and cook for a minute or so - the heat in the fry pan will finish off cooking the top side very quickly.........

keeping it simple - mayo and chip, seasoned with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon to taste. Use two fish (four fillets) per person for med/large medium macs or there'll be a fight over who gets what!

Old school - Billinsgate style.

Fish merchant Roger Barton with a brace of Ling - Behind the scenes at Billingsgate fish market
Image courtesy of Completely London

An example of a work ethic that many would argue is lost on many today - one man's 50 year life with fish at the capital of fish markets - Billingsgate - tells all. By coincidence it Looks like Billingsgate uses the same supplier of plastic door protection as is used on Newlyn fish market!

African Voices - Cape Verde fishermen on Newlyn fish market.

 African Voices visit Newlyn - Nick Howell (who has done much to support 'artisanal fishing' in Cornwall like develop the Cornish Sardine fishery) talks cod with 49 year old Senegalese fisherman Celestino Oliveira and Issa Moustapha Diop member of the National Artisanal Fishermen Federation of Mauritania .......

 two of three delegates from Cape Verde in Senegal who are visiting the UK as part of their European tour this week......

 seen here lending a hand to land fish from one of Newlyn's mackerel handline fisherman......

 Issa Moustapha Diop was truly impressed that one man had caught all the fish - he thought there must more crew member hiding aboard the boat!.......

 smiles all round for a good morning's work that started at 4am.......

Celestino Oliveira and Issa Moustapha wait as veteran handliner Chris Morley heads for the quay.......

along with hard working Greenpeace delegate, Kiwi Alicia Craw seen here enjoying the delights of all that Newlyn has to offer - later the group will convene in the Fishermen's Mission to meet local MP Andrew George and David Muirehead from the South West Handliner's Association - which represents over 150 fishermen - to discuss their working lives and how things might be different - especially now as the waters off West Africa are being fished by the world's most powerful trawler, the Atlantic Dawn, originally built to fish pelagic fish like mackerel for Kevin McHugh from her home base of Killybegs in Ireland -

she dwarfs these boats - Atlantic Challenge and Western Endeavour 

and would even make her predecessor, the Veronica, look small seen here pictured in Killybegs back in the late 1980s

All fishermen in Newlyn are welcome to come and talk with interpreters on hand to help - unless your spoken French is good of course!......

From Cape Verde to Cornwall!

Andrew George MP Calls For Radical Change To Fishing Policy.

Local MP, Andrew George, is calling for a radical EU reform of the Commons Fisheries Policy (CFP) and is campaigning for fishermen to be given greater powers to protect and manage their own fisheries.


He will be meeting with a group of West African fishermen in Newlyn's Fisherman's Mission tomorrow and with local fishermen and industry bodies during the next few weeks to discuss the CFP reform.


Mr George is the Liberal Democrat lead on fishing matters in the House of Commons and works closely with the Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon MP. They are working jointly as Coalition partners in the lead up to the completion of the CFP review by the end of 2012.


Mr George, who took part in a Parliamentary debate last week (Thursday, 12th May 2011) to discuss the reforms, said: “We must support those coastal communities that are dependent upon fishing and the fishing industry whether they be in Europe or in Africa. In doing that we must develop policy which ends the practice of discards and takes powers away from Brussels and gives fishermen and other stakeholders more say in their own local and regional waters whether in Cornwall or Africa.”


Greenpeace has organised a small delegation of three artisanal fishermen from West Africa to visit the UK as part of the European-wide African Voices Tour. Mr George will meet the fishermen when they visit Seafood Cornwall in Newlyn on Friday (20th May) at 12.30pm.


The fishermen will share their own experiences of the effects of large industrial European vessels operating in their waters under the Common Fisheries Policy.


The group are interested in meeting fellow small scale fishermen in the UK and will spend an informal day in Newlyn this week where they will discuss how their livelihoods and communities are threatened by the large European vessels.


Mr George will also be meeting with local fishermen and industry representatives in the coming weeks to discuss other aspects of the CFP and the challenges faced by many fishing communities around the Cornish coast whose livelihoods are dependent upon successful local fisheries management.

AtSource gets the first Mackerel pin for Penzance from HFW.

AFTER trading for only a month, a new Penzance café, At Source, has been awarded a Mackerel Pin by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's Fish Fight team.

The TV chef's Fish Fight campaign, backed by Channel 4, aims to get more people eating British sustainable fish and includes a big push to have mackerel on the menu.  As part of At Source's policy of only serving local seasonal food, the fish served in the increasingly popular cafe is strictly only landed in Newlyn and includes line-caught mackerel for most of the year.  As well as using mackerel or other seasonal fish for the standard menu fish and chips, the daily Special's board offers fish dishes dependent on what has been landed each day.

In recognition of this sustainable fish policy, At Source has been awarded a pin on the map on the Fish Fight website and signage to promote the café as part of the campaign.  "Sustainability is a large part of what we are about," said cafe owner Niky Keane. "We want to raise awareness of local, seasonal food by making no excuses for only being able to serve and sell what comes from Cornwall at any time of year. Our fish, vegetables and salads change almost daily in line with what local growers and fishermen can bring us."

Story courtesy of The Cornishman (C-DM)

Land's End carries the torch.

A year today, the Olympic torch will leave Land's End, Cornwall, on the morning of Saturday 19 May 2012 - the day after it arrives in the UK from Greece.

During the 70-day torch relay, it will pass through towns and cities including Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Oxford, Southampton and Dover.

With one year to go until the Flame arrives in the UK, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has launched the 'Moment to Shine' public nomination campaign, which will see 2,012 Torchbearer places on offer. Through the campaign, members of the public can nominate someone living in the UK who has inspired them.


From the start point of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay at Land’s End on 19 May 2012, an average of 110 people a day will take centre stage by carrying the Flame during its 70-day journey towards the Olympic Stadium in London.

Details of this route were announced today, and will see the Olympic Flame come within a one hour journey time of 95 per cent of the population. The majority of the 8,000 Torchbearer places will be made available to the public through LOCOG and the three Presenting Partners: Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB and Samsung. The Presenting Partners' campaigns will launch in June 2011. Sebastian Coe, Chair of LOCOG said: ‘Carrying the Olympic Flame is an incredible honour and from today people have the opportunity to reward someone inspirational by nominating them to be part of this historic event. This is a great occasion to give someone you know, who has made a difference and who deserves recognition, their moment to shine.’

Sir Chris Hoy, Olympic Gold Medallist and Lloyds TSB (Bank of Scotland) Ambassador for the London 2012 Games said: ‘It’s great that Lloyds TSB (Bank of Scotland) is bringing the Games closer to local communities and inviting the public to nominate someone to carry the Olympic Flame. I know who I’m nominating and urge everyone to nominate and recognise the people who’ve made a difference to their local community.’

The deadline for making nominations is 11.59pm on Wednesday 29 June 2011.


Find out more about the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay