Muggy Monday

Heavy skies over the Mount greet early risers this morning...

thought there's a patch of blue right over the new skatepark...

at Wherry Town...

its all sunny aboard the multi-purpose inshore boat Nazarene...

cod are just some of the fish getting measured this morning...

tip-top bass gleam in the morning light...

as does the market this morning...

with the Algrie back in action at last...

solo fly past maybe getting in some practice for Wednesday's airshow at RNAS Culdrose... 

a pair of visiting of scallopers in tier...

and yachts fill any of the remaining pontoon berths leaving the harbour to ponder just how many leasure craft would be attracted to the port of the berthing provision was increased...

busy enough at the down the New Quay...

a superb prize is on offer for the Star's annual Newlyn Harbour Light's raffle, a train ticket for 2 anywhere in the UK...

several days of onshore breezes have covered this corner of the Bay in fresh seaweed.

Fishy Friday's summer sizzling feast

Yet another glorious morning greets the day in the Bay...

And there's plenty of movement as boats like the Harvest Reaper take ice...

on the market meg rims make up the bulk of the Sapphire's landing...

while the Imogen's trip shows signs of th Dory season kicking off...

still landing, the Padstow registered Berlewen puts ashore her net caught fish...

the latest addition to the inshore fleet, Tegen Mor put in a tidy trip of top quality fish for its new owner...

your fish In safe hands, from DrecklyFish...

summer brings big grey mullet into the harbour closely followed by local anglers keen to catch a few of these fickle feeding fish...

young Roger and crew go through the trawl looking for any damage around the foot rope area...

the blue light of the new length data recorder caught...

loaded with bins ready for some Cornish sardine action on Sunday evening...

yet another tranquil harbour view...

lucky lobster lunch for someone.

Langoustine BBQ Newlyn Green

Sun, stones - hot ones, charcoal and a dozen langoustine fresh off the boat!

Holy Jumpin Mackerel Fish

An excellent article from across the pond in Nova Scotia:

Growing up in the fishing community of Canso, Nova Scotia, my school bus driver’s favourite expletive was “Holy Jumping Mackerel Fish!”  I would love to believe it was meant as a tribute to my favourite fish. (But it was mostly because Corey Bond wouldn’t stay in his seat.)

Like fiddleheads and hodgepodge, the appearance of mackerel along Nova Scotia’s coast is a sign that spring has actually sprung, that summer is on its way. Their arrival causes waves of excitement for anglers and wharf-rat kids like me who wait for the “nervous water,” a subtle choppiness that means they’re on their way.Mackerel is a dusky, gorgeously striped little fish. Open-ocean schoolers, they follow the warm water up the Atlantic coast every spring, gathering in protected coves to feed on copepods and other little critters. Once fall sets in, they disappear into deeper waters – though scientists seem unsure of exactly where.

“The mackerel are running,” someone will say, and soon local wharves and breakwaters are populated with ballcaps, jigs, rods and coolers.

With a bit of vertical jiggery, mackerel are an easy catch. Just wiggle a jig on a bit of fishing line and something shiny- tinfoil used to work for me- over the edge of the wharf, and you’ve filled your cooler- or your schoolbag- in no time. You don’t even need a license.

Early settlers likely learned to anticipate the mackerel run from First Nations communities, who used gillnets and beach seines to gather them up. Today, inshore fishermen use a variety of methods to catch mackerel from jigging, to gillnets, handlines, and traps. A small seine fishery also operates off Cape Breton’s coast.

Every summer, I am surprised by the lack of mackerel at local farmer’s markets, restaurants and even grocery stores. Unless you can find the elusive neighbourhood mackerel truck- or catch it yourself, it can be hard to find. Meanwhile, some of the freshest morsels available are buried in vegetable gardens as fertilizer or thrown about in the summer festival sport of “Mackerel Toss.”These days, precious little commercially caught mackerel is enjoyed locally. While some is destined to become fishing bait for lobsters and other species, most of the rest is exported to China, Russia and Eastern Europe. U.S. exports are also consistent, where incidentally, “stack of macks”- a.k.a. mackerel packets- replaced packs of smokes as the black market federal prison currency back in 2004.

Not only are Mackerel resilient and sustainably caught, they’re full of protein and healthy omega-3 oils, and delicious when drizzled with a little lemon juice and grilled on the barbecue. Also, if you ask me, hot-smoked mackerel is one of life’s more exquisite pleasures.

It turns out that my bus driver was mostly likely a courteous Catholic, shouting a euphemism for ‘Holy Mary’.  Though he may have been invoking a nastier curse. The French word for mackerel- ‘maquereau’- also refers to pimps. Rooted in medieval people’s unscientific but “imaginative notions about the erotic habits of beasts” – this ancient association with mackerel shoaling behaviour explains today’s ‘mack daddies.’

Etymology aside, it is high time we expressed some reverence for the Holy Mackerel. Atlantic Canada is home to some of the best quality sustainable seafood in the world, and for the most part, we don’t celebrate it nearly enough. Let us praise.

Fresh mackerel is a bright, shimmering sign of summer.  Whether you catch it yourself or chase down your local mackerel truck- we should be celebrating it alongside our fresh new potatoes and sugar snap peas.  Enjoy it with a nice cold glass of  Tidal Bay(Nova Scotia’s very first appellation) or L’Acadie Blanc… or whatever sacrament you prefer.

by Sadie Beaton. A version of this post originally appeared at Rustik Magazine

Fishing News meets DrecklyFish

DrecklyFish meets Fishing News and Fishing News International at Seafood Cornwall. - Quentin Bates and Rijuta Dey go face to face with the Dreckly boys keen to put across their quality and service message as suppliers of live Cornish shellfish.

Another Newlyn market full of the finest fish!

Out in Mount's Bay the square rigger, Grossherzogin Elisa lends some real classic maritime atmosphere to the view this morning in the misty conditions...

as does the Rowse crabber Kastel Paol making her way out #ThroughtheGaps...

broad in the bean trawler, Abbi...

a rare sight these days, not a boat in the harbour for most of the quayside, if she can catch fish then she is at sea today!...

even the gulls are looking to leave the harbour...

while the market has some big trips of fish from the beam trawl fleet...

the line caught pollack look stunning fro the Sea Spray this morning...

as the buyers check out the lots...

there's even a good run of mackerel to be had...

and some handsome hake...

coveted cod...

tantalising turbot...

delicious Dory...

and soon-to-be-sizzling sardines!

Tuesday morning and the sardines are on their way!

With the MSC accreditation team on their way to Newlyn the White Heather drops a few tonnes of Cornish Sardines ashore...

looking across the huge net pound on the boat's stern...

but it's Sam aboard the Lyonesse who is top dog tis morning!