All at sea makes for a quiet market

 The jackup rig Seafox 7 has been joined by a Customs boat this morning, according to the WorkFox web site the rig is an Accommodation and Maintenance Support rig and its present location is the North Morecambe Field in the British sector, Irish Sea - the second time in as many weeks the rig has been held up for weather - there's also a crew change for the tug to sort first........

 time to stretch the wings at Wherry Town.......

 a handful of boxes graced a very quiet mid-week market.......

 with most of the fleet now in the middle of their trips......

 all eyes will be on the Algrie waiting for her to leave the port for the first time in a year or so.......

 heading out through the gaps, the beam trawler Sapphire........

 FY registered inshore trawler, Innisfallen........

 number one in the port is just leaving.......

 around 8 of these boxes with what looks like aerials underneath are just one of the interesting developments inside the fish market at Newlyn; as to their purpose, rumours abound and include sophisticated fly killers, pigeon scaring devices, comms with the cafe for ordering bacon sarnies, improved mobile phone reception or even a computer fish auction - perhaps a bit far fetched some of these rumours.......

 so it's time to mull over these and other pressing thoughts for the day with some tea and toast in the Mission......

 as the punts head in from a mornings work.........

shopping on the roadside.

Dogs, dogged by bad luck dodge home

It seems that any boat with a dog in the name is destined not to finish the mini transat class Fastnet race this year. First Mad Dog (Jake Jefferries) and then Mad Spaniel (Aussie Geoff Dunium) have had to turn back from the Bishop Rock - Fastnet leg of the race and head for that well-known fishing port in the far west of Cornwall, Newlyn. Must be something of a homing instinct in Geoff's Solo Sails?!!


Next question is, will sailmaker Woody be a hero and give the boys a dry warm bed for the night when they get in?

One year ago today.Cornish and Alderney flag

Cornish and Alderney flags fly in respect.

It was one year ago today that a young Jersey fisherman, Liam Guille was lost in Newlyn Harbour.

One pound fish, very very cheap!

Muhammad Shahid Nazir - who is from Lahore in Pakistan is the singing fishmonger in Queen's Market, Upton Park, London drums up trade with his tag line "One pound fish" in the busy East End market.  There were plenty of mackerel on the stall - be good to know where he gets his fish from and how his working day is organised.

In the meantime, hundreds of thousands have seen the videos on Youtube and a number of singing acts including Alesha Dixon have jumped on the cheerful chap's song.

Mini Fastnet update

Late on Monday night the Fastnet minis are all steaming north in a fresh westerly breeze, all except the Mad Dog which is making an interesting run to the sou' west of the Scillies leaving the rest of the fleet well to the norrard........

8 hours later early on Tuesday morning sees the entire fleet on a westerly heading in the fresh nor' westerly breeze - hard and chilly going when you're out on deck on doubt!

Maria Damanki's interview with The Grocer

Feisty EU fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki is deadly serious about battling fish discards.But she doesn’t take herself too seriously. Instead of posting traditional photographs on her official website, she commissioned this series of light-hearted cartoons.

Reproduced courtesy of The Grocer Magazine.


The EU’s feisty fisheries commissioner, Maria Damanaki, opens up about discards, Hugh and going to “war” over mackerel Maria Damanaki’s office is almost comically inappropriate for a conversation about fishing. 


Ensconced in the European Commission’s HQ in Brussels, it is a good 70 miles from the nearest major fishing port, its skyline cluttered with concrete and glass. When critics complain about out-of-touch bureaucrats meddling with the EU fishing industry, they probably imagine them sitting in offices just like Damanaki’s. Brussels on a grey March morning is certainly far removed from the EU fisheries commissioner’s own upbringing on Crete, where artisanal fishermen - not high-rises - used to dominate the landscape. 


 It’s a different world, but one which Damanaki clearly relishes and approaches with a healthy sense of humour. Instead of going for traditional photographs on her official website, for example, she has commissioned a series of light-hearted cartoons. “My portfolio - although it’s rather small - has a lot of interest in it,” she tells me. “It affects fishermen, consumers, labelling, external relations and internal relations, so it’s a challenge.” 


 And Damanaki likes a challenge. A one-time student activist, she was imprisoned in the 1970s for her opposition to the Greek dictatorship and became a figurehead of the popular uprising against the military junta after taking to the airwaves during a student revolt. 


Almost 40 years on, as protector of the EU’s lucrative fish stocks, she faces a different kind of enemy. “The enemy is our irresponsible behaviour, the enemy is the quick profit, the ‘let’s go there and fish everything’ idea, thinking that something magical will happen at the end of the day and the fish are going to reproduce,” she bristles. “The enemy is this illusion that nature has unlimited resources.” 


 Damanaki’s key weapon against this kind of irresponsible behaviour is her package of reforms for the Common Fisheries Policy, which she put forward last July. It contains a wide range of proposals - from reducing fleet overcapacity to seafood marketing - but there is no doubt about her number-one priority: banning the discarding of juvenile, over-quota and non-quota fish. “It’s a flagship of our reform,” she says. Why? Because discards epitomise what’s gone wrong in the EU fishing industry in the past, Damanaki believes. “It’s something that goes beyond respect of resources,” she says. “It’s a wasteful practice - it’s not about respecting resources; it’s about destroying resources.” In fact, she adds, the practice of discarding fish at sea is so obviously wrong and provocative that it must be tackled immediately. “There is no excuse. That’s why this is a very emblematic issue.” 


 Damanaki’s urgency about discards comes as her CFP reform proposals are at a crossroads, with the Commission currently engaged in negotiations with the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. She is conscious such negotations inevitably mean compromise to appease those member states - such as France - who believe the proposals go too far, but is determined not to water them down. “Business as usual is not an option,” she says.


You can read her full interview with The Grocer’s Richard Ford here.

Olympic torch will pass through Newlyn - at around 8am!

The route for the torch will take it along Newlyn Green and Cornwall's only promenade in Penzance.

All eyes will be on Land's End in the early hours of next Saturday morning as the first of 8,000 torch bearers leave the historic site and begin the Olympic flame's final journey on its way to London. Around one hour later, after following the main road, the A30, the torch will swing right carried by Emma Davidson into 'the Coombe' and a few minutes later will see it turn sharp left and over Newlyn Bridge and off towards Penzance.

Full details of the Olympic Torch Relay's route and the stories behind the torch carriers an be found here: