Sole, Lundy, Fastnet, Storm force 10 increasing hurricane force 12 imminent

Surfs up!

Evidence that the recent weather conditions are extreme - her world record holder in the surfing fraternity takes on what is thought to be a wave close to 100 feet in height - with the weather buoys recording 46 feet in open water the other day it hardly seems surprising!

Full story here courtesy of the Wired web site.

Weather so bad the biggest boats in the UK fleet are tied up!

The biggest pelagic boats in the UK fleet are currently taking refuge in Killbegs in Northern Ireland...

and can be seen on the VesselTracker AIS.

Crabstock - Cornish ex-pat sets out his stall in the Cotswolds

Fish fun comes to the Midlands this year in the shape of a big food fest called Crabstock - fish and beasts!

Here's the lowdown from founder Matt Ayres:

For many years now there have been many fish festivals and crab festivals all close to the sea and for some strange reason not inland, here at The Obelisk Centre in Northampton, we have a fantastic venue and we have decided to put on the Only Inland Shellfish Festival known as Crabstock. The reason behind Crabstock is to teach the next generation of the health benefits of eating are Great British shellfish, supporting our own UK fishing fleet, for a lot more public awareness of facts of import and export of shellfish throughout the UK and to provide everyone coming with a great weekend of brilliant food, live music and knowledge of the industry that we should all love and standby.

CALLING POST GRADUATE FISHERIES AND MARINE BIOLOGISTS!

Opportunity on Marine Institute Mackerel Egg Survey

Unfortunately, this only applies to students in Irish universities!


CALLING POST GRADUATE FISHERIES AND MARINE BIOLOGISTS!

The mackerel and horse mackerel egg survey sails from Cork on the 18th March and there are berths available for motivated postgraduate marine biologists. This leg of the survey will investigate mackerel spawning in the Celtic Sea and the Bay of Biscay.

Mr Brendan O’Hea will lead an experienced team of biologists from the Marine Institute on the survey. The mackerel and horse mackerel egg survey takes place every three years and provides fisheries scientist with a vital signal on the trajectory of these most important fisheries resources.

The survey will follow a series of transects from the Bay of Biscay to the South Coast of Ireland deploying a Gulf V11 plankton sampler and pelagic trawl to sample eggs, larvae and female mackerel in the water column. At 21 days in length this survey is an opportunity for postgraduate students with a confirmed interest in fisheries biology and zoo plankton. 

This call closes on Friday 8th February 2012 at 1pm. 

 For more information on how to apply please check out our website link below or if you have any other quires don't hesitate to email us at smart@gmit.ie

Artisanal Fishermen Congress Europe - a way forward

Small-scale fishing vessels account for 80% of Europe's fishing sector, but as the vast majority of fishing quotas and EU subsidies have favoured industrial fishing operations, which have in many cases accelerated the depletion of fish stocks and environmental damage to our seas, the voices of small scale fishermen have largely been ignored.

Over 60% of European fish stocks are over-exploited  Now, small-scale fishermen from across Europe are joining forces to put sustainable, artisanal and low-impact fishing at the heart of the on-going reform of European Union (EU) Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). 

Read one highly sceptical fisherman's road to Damascus conversion account of the trip!

Worst weekend weather update

The last few ays have seen extrem weather conditions in the North East Atlantic - luckily, Cornwall and the fleet have escaped the worst effects of the weather system that traversed the Atlantic last week.

Here is an extract from GCaptiain's blog:

Last weekend saw an unusually intense hurricane force extratropical storm low over the North Atlantic. An active weather pattern started showing up on computer models more than a week earlier and by the 21st, the official NOAA “96 hour North Atlantic surface forecast chart” showed a rapidly deepening 977mb storm low over the central North Atlantic for 12Z Friday January 25th moving northeastward with a forecasted central pressure dropping to 933mb by 12Z on Saturday the 26th!

See the rest of the post and charts here.

Guess who?

This was the cover of the long defunct Professional Fisherman. Name the year, the boat and the crew members buried in fish!