Inside Out in Newlyn.

Regional BBC Tv programme Inside Out ran a story on Monday evening covering the ongoing saga of the Harbour Commissioners at Newlyn.

The programme came on the back of the apparent paralysis of the NPHC chairman Gilbert Mcabe to be forthcoming publicly - to date, their own web site has not been updated since May 20011 - in that time two commissioners have been 'sacked' and a third not considered for re-election, no sound of a public announcement or sign of an alternative to the £5million plus development plan that was ditched last year as promised in the new year (ie January gone) and increasing disquiet amongst many of those in the port that yet again the interests of a few are clouding the judgment of those supposedly at the helm of the port. The names of the three new board members are supposed to be being made public this week - check the NPHC web site for more details.

"This new website and the meetings of the Commission in public are an expression of the open and transparent way in which the Commission will be conducting this vital and important opportunity for Newlyn in the 21st Century."

For the first time in many years, Brixham overtook Newlyn and is once again England's largest fishing port. Despite being much smaller ports at one time, both Brixham and Plymouth have invested in new fish markets and auction systems with obvious results.

Despite this the port is still doing very well thank you very much as the fleet continues to take advantage of improved fishing and greater marketing opportunities in some areas. In recent times, several skippers and owners have invested in the future and more boats have joined the local fleet - including a modern beam trawler for the Nowell family and two netters (one being the biggest in the UK) and a new build (the biggest UK ring netter) as well as several other new builds nearing completion - ironically, most of these new boats choose to land their fish through Plymouth or even French fish markets.

In 2012 - when it is technically possible to buy fish, live, online on your mobile phone on most significant UK and European fish auctions - all these and other boats are looking for in Newlyn is a fish market capable of handling their fish to the highest quality standards and fetching the highest possible price - which, given its remote location must include the internet.

Over to you Gilbert.

Ajax end of year do - at the Boatshed, by Penzance Dock

The Boatshed.



Celebrating the end of 2011 - the skipper, crew, owners, family and friends of the Ajax AH32 will come together at the Boatshed adjacent to Penzance Dock - time and date to be announced! No doubt a few others might want to join in the fun - if so, best get hold of Nigel to pre-warn him of impending good night!

Padstow Festival on air on fish - Rick Stein on sustainability.

Padstow gill netter, PW1 Berlewen.

Pastow's fourth Christmas Festival proved highly successful when it ran over last weekend and featured fish like never before. The list of chefs giving support and taking time out away from their own establishments to give a series of demonstrations in the giant food marquee on the harbour side read like a Who's Who of south west fish chefs. 


New to this year's festival was a Fishing Forum with key members of the industry given an open forum to inform and discuss the latest in fishing news and the future with interested members of the public. Radio Cornwall were there talking to industry people live on air and recorded one of the first interviews with Rick Stein giving his personal view of the restaurant trade and its relationship to sustainable fishing. The BBC iPlayer for Radio Cornwall needs the adjustable timeline setting to 1:07:40 seconds in (Debbie McCrory sitting in on Martin Bailie's show) when you can hear local Newlyn fisherman turned industry consultant, Nathan de Rozariaux talking fish ahead of the Rick Stein interview.

Nathan listens patiently to Grimmy Mike in the Mission at Newlyn over an early morning cuppa.

Boatyard makes 'keep it local' plea to region's fishermen

The UK fishing industry is "far from on its knees" says a leading Westcountry boat builder, who wants "serious skippers to keep their orders in the South West". 


 A busy yard at C Toms & Son yet still space to build at least one more vessel Paul Toms, of the family-owned boat yard C Toms & Son at Polruan, Cornwall, said there was a real attempt to help the region's fishing industry thrive. He said: "Those skippers are out there, there is a core of fishermen and vessel owners who are determined to invest in new boats, some to add to their present fleet, some to replace their old boat, and we want to keep those builds in Cornwall and not let them drift to the North East or Scotland. "Yes, skippers at present are cautious in investing in new boats, but we want to keep those orders here in the Westcountry. Our yard at present has space for at least one more big build, but by spring next year the second of the present builds will be complete, we will need more orders as we have a fairly big workforce; my father (Alan Toms) and myself are working hard to attract orders." He added: "In the old days new-builds were waiting at the door of every yard, the fishing industry was growing, but now we have to push for that work. At present we are busy building three boats and refitting many more – we have many boats already booked in for the summer but we must look ahead, well into the next winter where new builds are vital to us. "


Anyone who thinks the fishing industry is on its knees isn't right – fishing may be less profitable than it was before, I'm not sure as I'm not a fisherman, but there are skippers and owners out there who are willing to invest." Stemming back several generations, C Toms & Son is responsible for a "fair chunk" of the present South West fishing fleet; most Westcountry ports house a C Toms & Son boat. Lyme Regis skipper Chris Wason and Newlyn shellfisherman Mark Rowse are currently awaiting their new builds, and once a major refit is complete a scallop firm in Scotland will soon take delivery of its vessel, Copious. 


 Having served him well since its launch in 1985, Mr Wason will by spring sell his present boat, Sea Seeker, to replace it with a new C Toms & Son's steel trawler/scalloper of 11.95min length. Skipper Wason said: "The new boat will be almost identical to the Betty G II from Exmouth that Toms launched a couple of years ago. The Sea Seeker has been good to us and is a fine boat but we need a different sort of boat, one better for us to work away from Devon, we have no option but to move away. "After the closure of 60 square miles of Lyme Bay to towed gear (scalloping and trawling) we had to find a way to survive, we are not going to go away like they (Natural England) think we will, we will just become nomadic like the others. Where we would have fished on our own grounds and rotate the grounds to prevent over fishing, we are forced to go somewhere else; I saw the Betty G II being built and liked it." 


 Also under build is a part complete order for Mark Rowse of Rowse Fishing Ltd at Newlyn, a firm that already owns a small fleet of vivier crabbers. Due for launch shortly the craft will be towed to Newlyn for completion and represents the modern supercrabber with a hull of 16.4m in length that on sight looks "like twice the boat," said Paul Toms, telling how the designs of steel boats are now so different to those of 20 years ago. "We all have to move with the times and the boats that skippers want nowadays are 'big' small boats, even the bigger beam trawlers and stern trawlers that come here for refit are much smaller in size than those of equal power in the past. All I can say to those wanting a new boat is to please look at the yards in the Westcountry before going north."


Story courtesy of Exmouth People.

Asthore, night hunting.

The new sardine boat, Asthore has been busy for the last two evenings. The AIS tacks show just how much searching she has had to do to find the right kind of 'marks' (signs on her electronic fishfinding equipment) before she can shoot her ring net.

A New Dawn in Le Guilvinec!

AIS trails Plot Star 1994.

The aerial seen on the foremast at the start of the clip is for the new AIS system being trialled on the Pilot Star - 1994.

 An early incarnation of AIS was trialled aboard the Newlyn netter, Pilot Star skippered by owner Martin Johns. At one time, Martin was invited to London to se AIS working on a huge display screen - bet he never dreamt he would be using a mobile phone to do the same a few years later - in context, 1994 was a year before Microsoft released Windows 95 and bundled Internet Explorer with it - most schools, colleges and universities only had access to the internet in specialised teaching rooms for ~IT students. A few people at home tangled with 14Kb dial-up internet access - if they were able to configure the settings! Texting on a mobile phone was introduced in 1994.