From the Cornishman - Newlyn Harbour's commission on brink of collapse as trio are ousted

NEWLYN'S harbour commission is on the brink of collapse after a shock secret ballot saw three members dismissed.

Nick Howell, John Lambourn and Juliet Taylor were all kicked off the port authority on Tuesday afternoon in a last-minute vote that has been slammed as a breach of the commission's guidelines. Another member, Dave Munday, resigned yesterday in protest over the "grossly unfair" decision. With vice-chairman Ray Tovey leaving for a new post with Cornwall Council and Andrew Bell's post not filled, that leaves just six commissioners remaining on the board: chairman Gilbert McCabe; Mike Collier; Kevin Bennetts; Andrew Munson; Dave Stevens; and Elizabeth Stevenson.

Local representatives have called for the Department for Transport to step in and disband the commission after the drama unfolded right at the end of its first year. They have also called for the resignation of Mr McCabe – who has pledged transparency in the past – over the surprise ousting of three of its most dedicated members. "I cannot work with a commission that has been so discredited," said Mr Munday, who stepped down "with great sadness" on Wednesday. "I believe the board is completely undermined and has brought itself into disrepute. It should be dissolved and the DfT be asked to take over the management of the port until a new board can be appointed."

The commission caused controversy last August when it rejected funding for a new fish market in the port.
Fiona Thomas-Lambourn, a member of the commission's advisory body, said: "Do you really want Newlyn harbour to die on its feet and only have commissioners who (by their relation to the harbour) are forced to be 'yes people' and not free-thinking?" Nick Howell questioned whether the move to remove him, brought under Article 11 of the commission's rules, was valid. "It's a wrong way of conducting business and has a bad reflection on the Department for Transport," he said. "Article 11 states commissioners can only be asked to leave if they die, don't attend meetings or bring the commission into disrepute," he said. "They said we were not working together but that comes down to the chairman and he has to make us work together.
"A few of us have been saying for a while that we should be following the guide for good governance; we have been here for a year and we have not done it."

John Lambourn was disappointed the commission, which was set up in June 2010 after the previous authority was disbanded, looked set to crumble once more. "We were actually making progress and getting to the point where we were reaching some clear decisions," he said, adding that the trio were given the boot without any discussion. "I pleaded for a meeting to see where our differences were and if we could come to an agreement. "It looks like slipping back into the old slot, and where will hope be included in that slot?"

Juliet Taylor, who had been chairing the assets committee, said chairman Mr McCabe had to be accountable for what had happened. "It is not transparent and it is not constitutional," she said. "They gave no reason for what they did."

The remaining commissioners, included Mr McCabe, were not available for comment as The Cornishman went to press.

Courtesy of The Cornishman.

Sanjay at Genoa - cooking Cornish Slow Fish style.

Weaving his magic,Chef Sanjay Kumar will be at Newlyn Fish Festival later this summer.

  

Salacche Inglese (Cornovaglia) con polenta Sale Speziato

(English Salt fish with spiced polenta)

Every summer without fail a shoal of sardines swam across the channel, towards the warm shores of Cornwall. A dedicated marksman perched atop the hill kept an eye on the approaching train of shimmering fish shouting“Hevva Hevva” upon spotting the prized catch. Alert fishermen cast their nets, catching the prized fish, whichwas then prepared, salted, packed symmetrically in barrels, stenciled and shipped back to the shores of Catholic fish eating countries in the Mediterranean. Genoa in Italy was one such port of call a few centuries back. 

My recipe today is a modern twist on the amazing blend of ancient and modern eating habits, in the perspectiveof Cornish sardines. Nick and Mithe Howell are passionate producers, who care more about keeping thetraditions than earning surplus money by exploiting the sea. Over the years, the market and demand for Cornish fish has dwindled, due to alternate cheaper sources, and modern methods of industrial fishing. Slow fish is a platform to rekindle theinterests in restoring the pride of origin of a delicacy that is so proper to Cornwall, and the people who earn a living catching it, from shore to plate.

Recipe (you might want to adapt the quantities for home consumtion accordingly!)

Estimated Prep Time: 10 minutes

Estimated Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

100 Cornish Sardines / herring
50 g Cumin Seeds ground
1 pkt (10 g) Saffron strands
4 KgPolenta
2 Kg Fish bones for stock
20 Lemons
2 Kg Roquette
2 Trays Cherry tomatoes on vine
1 Kg White Onion
4 Bay leaves
100 ml Olive oil
1 Kg Salted Peanuts
250 g Whole Grain mustard

Directions

1. Prepare a fish stock, using the fish bones and onions and bay leaves.
2. Simmer the stock for 15 minutes and strain through a fine sieve.

3. In a hot deep pan, heat up the oil and cook the cumin seeds.

4. Add a few ladlefuls offish stock to the pan, and soak the saffron strands in it.

5. Pour the Polenta into the pan, and keep stirring.6. Ladle the rest of the fish stock, slowly into the polenta mix, and keep stirring until it is creamy andboiling off the sides.

7. Finish the polenta with salted peanuts and grain mustard seeds.

8. Place the delicate, salted sardines under a grill, to warm through.

9. Serve the salted sardines on a bed of spiced polenta, with a drizzle of roquette leaves, cherry tomatoes and a lemon wedge

Newlyn Harbour Commissioners in shake-up.

Yesterday's meeting (Tuesday) of the NPHC to re-appoint several members who were on one year terms has created something of a stir. It appears that, following the meeting, two members, including the vice chair have resigned (citing other commitments) and three were removed in questionable circumstances (see the letter below).

While still sceptical, many have been giving the new commissioners the benefit of the doubt - despite them turning down what appeared to be a gift horse of a new market for less than the cost of running the existing building -that, after being in post for a year and operating in line within the remit of good governance for Trust ports, the results of their efforts would soon begin to show.

Instead, this latest fiasco - remember this is, or was until very recently England's largest fishing port - will now only serve to rekindle all the old feelings that the port is continuing to serve the interests of a limited number of stakeholders over the rest. Componded by the fact that, the three who were pushed out all represented the local community and had given up huge amounts of personal time and effort in contributing towards the changes planned for the port.

Here is the letter that Dave Mundy handed to the Chairman of the Commissioners this morning:

"I am writing this letter with great sadness and have carefully considered the situation overnight. I was shocked at the meeting yesterday, the way it was called and conducted, I am unclear if what was done, was actually constitutional. I believe the actions taken yesterday by the Commission, have actually brought the Commission into disrepute, as well as being grossly unfair. I do agree with you that certain Commissioners are not acting “independently and in good faith in the best interests of the trust port and all its stakeholders”; however these are not the ones, that have been purged from the Commission. What has been done is to remove the three independent “community” Commissioners in a most unfair way.

When the new Commission was constituted I had high hopes that we could make real progress and have felt that in the last few months progress was slowly being made. However it appears that certain factions were opposed to change and have manoeuvred very cleverly, to ensure that their own interests are preserved and that Newlyn can not move forward.

I cannot work with a Commission that has been so discredited, so very regretfully, I feel that I have no option, but to resign from the Board. I now believe that the Board is completely undermined and has brought itself into disrepute, that it should be dissolved and the DOT be asked to take over the management of the port, until a new board can be appointed.

On a personal level, I believe that I have worked hard for the Commission and fully supported you as chairman and the executive in its function, I had hoped to be able to devote more time to the Commission, with my impending retirement. I will now have more time to devote to my other interests, which I am pleased to say are making good progress".

Dave Munday

You couldn't write this in a novel and expect to get away with such an extravagant extended plot - could you? As they say, fact is always stranger than fiction! Who needs iPlayer to catch up with the soaps?

What next?! - Five Newlyn Harbour Commissioners leave!

It would appear that, following a meeting this morning, a total of five commissioner places on the board are now vacant after a shakeup of the present team of 12 including the vice-chairman, Ray Tovey and Dave Mundy leave. Other members appear to have left their posts well ahead of their allotted term of service. Official confirmation yet to be given from the Chief Executive.

Great British Menu - the fish final - big on Cornish fish.

It's the finals for the fish course for the Great British Menu. Twenty four of the country's top chefs have been competing for a place to cook at the People's Banquet - a magnificent street party to be held at the historic Leadenhall Market. Now only eight chefs remain and they are all fighting to get one of their courses on the menu. In this episode, they cook their fish dishes for the Great British Menu judges and a fourth member who will help them decide who will go through.

Paul Ainsworth's fish dish - Cornish Sardines - Oysters and Bass.

Paul Ainsworth and Aktar Islam slugged it out for the final of the Great British menu's fish dish. Despite coming second Paul, head chef at the No6 restaurant in Padstow, is judged by Oliver Peyton to be giving Rick Stein some serious competition in the land of the fish restaurant in Cornwall. His fish dish consisted of Cornish Sardines, oysters and bass presented a la beach.........

Aktar Islam's Bass and spicy coconut sauce.

while Aktar opted for a steamed bass with a spicy coconut sauce and soft-shelled crab in batter that almost achieved a 100% score.

“We need to draw people’s attention to this scandalous waste”

Thi is the latest move from HFW and his discards campaign -  fishermen will need to make sure that while there may be consensus over stopping discards the means by which new measures are implemented will be crucial - and potentially damaging to many.

Quoted directly from a re-vamped FishFight web site that is now in 11 languages: "Discarding is a scandalous waste of a valuable and limited food resource. Everyone in Europe needs to get involved to end the practice". The Europe-wide Fish Fight campaign kicks off today with a grand event outside the EU Parliament Building in Brussels.

Why is Fish Fight launching a European Campaign?

I think the issue of discard is now very much on the public agenda in the UK. It’s been debated in Parliament and our Government has now passed a motion committing to help end the practice. There’s no doubt that this is the result of the mounting public awareness that followed directly from the Fish Fight series on Channel 4, and the accompanying campaign.

But in other European countries the problem is still not widely understood, or even known about. We need key public figures in those countries to take up the campaign and draw people’s attention to this scandalous waste of a valuable and limited food resource. That’s why we’re launching our campaign across Europe and launching websites in eleven other languages across Europe; French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Swedish, Flemish, Greek, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese.

On Tuesday May 31st Fish Fight Europe will kick off with a grand event outside the EU Parliament Building in Brussels. We really hope to see as many people as possible down there. All details can be found below. The future of all European fish stocks is at stake, so everyone in Europe who would like their children and grandchildren to eat this great food needs to get involved.


Hugh Fearnley -Whittingstall

Tues morning.

 Always good to see a smattering of JDs with the inshore trawlers.......  

 and signs that things are on the move, herring appear in numbers with the mackerel hand liners......

 big beamer, big mouth, big cod........

 do I hear 7?.........

 time to check over the ring net in readiness for the start of the new Cornish Sardine season aboard the White Heather.......

 doing his bit for the planet, the Harvest rubbish Reaper......

 let go the ends and bound for the Scillys......

Treen heads back to the pontoons......

 

Mr Cripps would like to see more practical hooks on the landing jibs, the hooks are just too awkward to use with strops.........

looks like there's a few day's work in the offing with the arrival of the new quay fenders.