After gale force 9 wind last night...

Caught on canvas, one of the beam trawl fleet upon the slip, the latest the current show in the Newlyn Bridge Gallery...

in the harbour there are several visiting Welsh scallopers...

blown in on passage...

they head round to a berth on the marina pontoons...

or go through their gear...

meanwhile, the Crystal Sea II s now back in port after a tough week at sea with a young UCL film crew on board...

now skipper and crew have to get down to work and swap over two trawls - the boat twin-rigs and carries four nets to sea on four bet drums...

the trawls are a third of the length of the new quay...

view looking back to the boat from the cod end...

as the hammer-locks get hammered...

the boat works Danish trawl doors...

over two metres in height...

time to pull the bridles back aboard on to the net drums...

with her stern against the quay...

the big beam trawler Sapphire...

has landed and kept plenty of bait back for the crab fleet...

one of which is tied up astern of the netter Gary M...

a quick check on the vivier hold...

reveals several tonnes of live brown crab.

Lest we forget #rememberancesunday

Several hundred people including local guides, scouts and sea cadets attended the annual memorial service outside the Mission at 11 am this morning...

to honour those from the community who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country...

young and old attended...

the service led by Mission skipper Keith Dixon...

as representatives from the forces...

and the community...

paid their respects to the fallen...

after which hymns were sung by those present.

#UCLfilmcrew update from the Crystal Sea 25nm miles south of Newlyn

The weather at the Sevenstones Lightship is not so good...

and a new feature on the VesselTracker ship status window now gives the current weather info where the boat is located based on available data, bigger vessels transmit their own weather data...

the film crew should getting some good footage now the boat is back fishing again!

Fishing Opportunities for 2014 for EU fish stocks

COM (2013) 753 final – final Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION fixing for 2014 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in EU waters and, for EU vessels, in certain non-EU waters.

Fishing opportunities for each Member State are agreed on an annual basis in the EU Fisheries Council of Ministers on the basis of a proposal produced by the European Commission. A proposal which sets out 2014 fishing levels for certain stocks was circulated by the EU Commission on the 30th of October, 2013.

The Programme for Government 2007 – 2012 states that a Sea Fisheries Sustainability Impact Assessment, based on consultation with all major stakeholders, will be brought before the Dáil annually before EU fisheries negotiations commence.

Stakeholders are asked to comment on the Commission proposal for fishing opportunities for COM (2013) 753 final. The closing date for this call for submissions is 22nd November, 2013. All submissions received, subject to legal and editorial considerations, will be published on this website.

Courtesy of Fishing Net

Film crew update - Crystal Sea II - heads south west once more!

Vessel Tracker AIS showing the route of the Crystal Sea after she left Brixham late last night.

With the weather easing, the winds dropping and the swell falling to around 10 feet for the first time in many days the Crystal Sea heads back south west to her more familiar fishing grounds. +Matthew Newton 

RNAS Culdrose Rescue 193 picks up the skipper aboard crew of the Panamera - #video #sar

Displaying the coolness and professionalism that makes night flying in gale force winds a real challenge, Rescue 193 airlifted the entire crew from their sinking fishing boat south of the Lizard earlier this week.  The helicopter lowered a diver and pump aboard the boat, which had issued a Mayday after discovering she was rapidly taking on water.

The clip shows the helicopter hovering above the boat as she continues to make way - the only conversation the navigator of Rescue 193 will have exchanged with the boat will have been when the navigator request the skipper, "maintain his present course and speed" - as all skippers know that under such circumstances when getting a visit from the rescue services they have to steam full ahead and 15º off the wind.

To give a better idea of how difficult such manouvres are, this story of an RAF rescue team taken off a single injured crewman in broad daylight illustrates just how much skilled is involved.

Still! - "Fisheries Chief Says Some EU Cod Stocks Facing Collapse"

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's fisheries chief proposed on Wednesday a cut of up to a third in the amount of cod the bloc's fishermen can catch next year, warning that stocks are at risk of collapse in some areas.

Scottish fishermen are likely to be worst affected by such quota limits after the European Commission proposed a continued ban in 2014 on landings of cod off Scotland's Atlantic west coast to try to avert a possible crash in numbers.

Cod stocks off other parts of Britain, Ireland and in the Bay of Biscay are also in a dire state, Greek EU fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki said, meaning quotas in these regions should be reduced by up to a third.

But fishermen whose incomes have been hard-hit in recent years by too many vessels chasing too few fish will be hoping for a reprieve when EU fisheries ministers gather in Brussels in December to approve the catch quotas.

Traditionally, ministers have set quotas above the strict levels proposed by the Commission in an effort to appease powerful domestic fishing industries.

Prized for its flaky white flesh, cod is one of the most widely consumed fish in Europe, used in dishes from British fish and chips to Spanish bacalao. It was the subject of naval clashes between Iceland and Britain in the 1950s and 1970s.

The Commission said it had based its proposals on the latest scientific evidence on the state of EU fish stocks. Similar warnings on haddock numbers in the north Atlantic led the Commission to propose slashing quotas by up to three-quarters in some areas.

But better news for other species resulted in proposals to sharply increase some catch quotas, including hake, herring, plaice and megrim.

"Overall, our knowledge of many stocks has improved, which enables sound management decisions to be made," Damanaki said in a statement.

A deal reached in May to reform the EU's common fisheries policy from next year will largely do away with the annual haggling over quotas, by ensuring that fishing opportunities are tied more closely to scientific advice on the state of stocks.

(Reporting by Charlie Dunmore; Editing by Mark Heinrich)