Sennen birds.

Sparrow on the wing, caught passing the lens the Sennen Cove web cam looking over the harbour.

Take the bait.

Strong southeasterly winds lashed the prom overnight.........

leaving Tom looking out over the Bay with a solitary ship at anchor..........

buyers check back at the office as the auction gets under way..........

and confirm the morning's bids........ 

the odd squid get big enough to stretch the length of a fish box.........

moving on to the next boat.........

down the quay two crabbers wait........

with boxes of bait........

as the scrapping work continues .........

on the hull of the Dom Boscoe.........

one lift too many on this block........

 lined up and ready to be fitted........ 

 the timber and tyre fenders are bolted together in a temporary lorry park workshop.......

just as well this little lot ended up on the beach rather than in someones prop.......

the greyest of grey mornings as light eventually fills the sky.

Billingsgate fish market - video - Karen Kay visits London's famous fish market.

Find yourself in London - then there's a must do for fishophiles - get down to Billingsgate in the early hours to catch one of the world's great food market in full swing - and if it's freezing cold there a bar or two open for coffees or a hot toddy. For more information about a visit to the market go here:

On behalf of the Guardian Newspaper, Karen Kay visits London's historic Billingsgate fish market to buy sea bass and Dover sole from the Thames estuary, then learns how to prepare it at Billingsgate Seafood Training SchoolRead about Karen's day at the market

Video and copy courtesy of the Guardian Newspaper.

How to make Witch's Brew for 'Alloween!

 Prep some onion and carrot in the fry pan with cider or wine if you must........

 using an old spoon with the handle bent over you can scrape out the pumpkin flesh after slicing off the top.........

and add these to the fried onion etc........

 add a bag of fresh spinach leaves.......

 witch with a little magic disappear........

 you can always toast the pumpkin seeds for fun with a little chilli flakes added for extra bite......

after 20-30 minutes of simmering well in goes the munger........ 

till a creamy consistency is reached (chicken stock makes up the liquid).........

to put the kids off eating their witch's brew, pour in cream from the centre in a spiral and drag a fork across the surface to create a spider's web.......

and illuminate the ghoulish face with a night light.

Coming to Newcastle - Annual Fisheries Negotiations

This is what is on the agenda at the UK Ministerial Stakeholder meeting on the Annual Fisheries Negotiations.

UK Stakeholder Event

12:30 – 17:00 1^st November 2011

Marlborough Suite, Centre for Life, Times Square

Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 4EP

Agenda:

12:30              Lunch

13.00              Meeting

·         Welcome and introductions

·         Timetable and update on negotiations to date

13:30              Stakeholder led discussion to inform UK Priorities      

·         Pelagic stocks

·         Nephrops

·         Other demersal stocks

·         Other species, including elasmobranches

16:30              Any Other Business

17:00             Meeting closes        

Taking action against bottom trawling and for the future of fish

Is this a fair view of deep sea trawling?

The article below has been posted on the Greenpeace blog - while the ship is at sea following the deep sea trawling fleet off the west coast of Scotland. There is a web cam aboard the Arctic Sunrise that transmits a new image every 30 seconds.

"I’m on board the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, currently working in the North Atlantic on our Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) campaign. The CFP- the European fisheries agreement- is reviewed every ten years. By lobbying, taking action and bearing witness where ocean life is endangered, Greenpeace wants to make sure that the EU minsters take the necessary measurement to truly protect our seas.

Yesterday we took action against a French bottom trawler, off the coast of Ireland, in the North East Atlantic ocean. Four swimmers placed themselves in front of the Pierre Jacques Matigny, one of the seven deep-sea bottom trawlers owned by Intermarché –Les Mousquetaires, a famous French retailer that owns its own fleet, with banners that read “Stop overfishing.

I talked to the captain of the trawler, who was obviously not happy about what we were doing, and doesn’t recognize that deep-sea species are endangered because of overfishing.
Sailing to these fishing grounds in the North Atlantic is a way of bearing witness to the ecological crime happening in the deep seas. Deep-sea bottom trawling is indeed one of the most destructive fishing practices, targeting fish stocks that are already overexploited, according to the scientists.Bottom trawl nets smash the seabed and takes everything in its way, even the species that are not targeted. Deep-sea bottom trawling comprises 30% to 60% bycatch – or wasted fish; ocean life that is discarded overboard, dead or dying. Deep-sea species are very vulnerable to fishing activities because they have a very long life span and a very low reproduction rates. Even if they are overfished during a short time period, it can take a century for them to recover.

Moreover, deep-sea bottom trawling is an absurd business model that has no future: to reach profitability, it needs to deplete existing fish stocks. Intermarché’s fleet is facing regular economic losses even though it has received 9.7 millions of Euros of public money: which means, your money and my money. The past and current Common Fisheries Policy has financed its own “Frankenstein” by helping the construction of new bottom trawlers. I don’t want to finance the plunder of the ocean.

Greenpeace is calling on to EU governments to put an end to such destructive practices and to overcapacity within the EU fleet. The Common Fisheries Policy is currently under reform, something that happens only every ten years. It’s now our last chance to save the oceans in Europe by ensuring the fish stocks recover, and to stop subsidies of overfishing and destructive fishing.

We want kids in the future to be able to eat fish and that fishermen can continue their job. But without fish, there is no fishing. We want the new Common Fisheries Policy to ensure that sustainable small-scale fisheries continue to exist."

Extract from a post on the Greenpeace blog by Helen Bourges

Read More: Wide open to abuse: the Common Fisheries Policy

Poor forecast starts the week.

 Big fish should make big money, but what fish is this?........

 not much evidence of the cuttle season being underway with the William Stevenson.......

 while there are still signs of a few herring along the shore.......

 and some big squid with the inshore trawlers.........

 the boys aboard the Still Waters would have been pleased to see this guy in the cod end........

 it's high water and a chance for the Harvest Reaper to make her way round to the quayside in order to dry out over the big tide........

 work continues aboard the Dom Bosco.........

 always a sign of windy weather, the gulls invade Newlyn Green en masse.......

while the outfall from the boating pool at Wherry Town has been submerged under a bed of pebbles.