Monday's piscatorial pleasures on Newlyn fish market

Despite the sensationalist predictions of Armageddon- "world's biggest waves to hit Cornwall" - high water passed without incident...

under some very heavy showers...

after Hugh's Fish Fight update showing last night it was good to see some quality cod on the market this morning...

along with another of those ugly fish contestants, the conger...

and some cracking turbot...

stunning black bream...

and mouth watering red mullet looking almost lickable...

bidding was swift especially for much-in-demand-mackerel...

and these pristine ray...

while the pollack peer from their bed of ice...

waiting for news on extra days at sea - the local crabbing fleet still have thousands of missing pots to find on top of a normal day's work - they are hoping that a meeting with the fisheries minister George Osborne will prove fruitful in gaining them the additional kilowatt sea days needed to retrieve their missing gear...

now taking shape, like a giant construction kit the first stage of the new ice works is nearing completion...

at high water the Mission witnesses the heavy surges running up the river...

while Tom keeps an eye on the Bay over the top of the barriers still keeping the public from accessing the coast path along the front to Wherry town...

lined up and ready to rock...

the true extent of the storm damage on the prom can now be seen as all the granite stones have now been levered from the beach...

out in the Bay two coasters wait for better conditions before attempting to round Land's End...

as heavy seas still attack the promenade at high water.

Hugh's Fish Fight goes to sea - first hand

Here's what the Guardian said:

It's three years since Hugh F-W decided the planet's oceans were worth saving and started to bang on about fish. In this update he's having a look at what has been achieved. And in the North Sea, the news is good. Well, unless you get seasick – there's a filthy chop off Peterhead today, the trawler Budding Rose is bouncing about all over the place and I'm feeling queasy just watching. It's beautiful though, as are the sad-eyed golden-green cod that spill into the hold when the catch is landed.

The good news is that none of this lot are going to be thrown back dead into the sea. For now it's a pilot scheme and means the Budding Rose has CCTV cameras all over the place (you've got to feel for the poor crew, being watched by Big Brother in Brussels). The fish is even marked "CCTV Cod" in boxes at market; make sure you ask for it in the chippy – large CCTV cod'n'chips please, open, and a pickled free-range happy egg.

Anyway, it marks the start of a ban on discards that will come into effect next year. A dumb European law has actually been changed, by a British TV chef and the hundreds of thousands who got behind his Fish Fight campaign. That's bloody brilliant, moving even. Nice one, Hugh. Maybe nice one you, too.




Here's what Scottish TV said almost one year ago:

Celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says he is listening to Peterhead skippers angered that his TV show misrepresented them and the UK fishing industry.

Hugh’s Fish Fight dumped the reality of discards right into the living rooms of the public; highlighting the merits of sustainable fishing and calling for action to be taken to ‘save our seas’. His methods however, angered a group of trawlermen who fought back with The Real Fish Fight campaign. The campaigners voiced concerns that the series did not differentiate between the healthy North East sector and troubled markets elsewhere in the country. They also argued that "there are plenty of fish in the sea". Now Hugh says he has been listening to the campaigners' arguments and says he recognises how healthy the north-east industry is. And he has heaped praise on campaign leader Peter Bruce, calling him a "top skipper" and someone who could "lead the UK fishing industry".

Speaking to STV, Hugh said: "I know that Peter Bruce of the Real Fish Fight is one of the top skippers in Scotland and catches great quality fish. He is on the innovative catch-quota system and so doesn’t discard any cod and has an MSC certificate of sustainability for his haddock. "He’s the sort of fisherman to lead the UK fishing industry in the right direction. I think we’ve got a lot in common and I am listening to what the Real Fish Fight has to say. "I do acknowledge that cod stocks are doing well in the North Sea from their all-time low point in 2006 and applaud fishermen and fishery managers for their hard work to make that happen. But looking at all stocks, across the whole UK, it’s a complicated situation. "Our latest series of Fish Fight focused on Marine Protected Areas, and did not discuss fish stocks in the North Sea. We filmed on the Isle of Man – in the Irish Sea – where cod stocks are still in dire straits, and scientists advise that we shouldn’t catch any cod if we can help it. It’s the same in coastal areas of West Scotland."

The fishing industry was dealt a heavily blow when, earlier this year, the Marine Conservation Society demoted mackerel on its list of ethical fish to eat, causing Hugh to ditch his campaign to get "mac baps" into Britain’s chippys. North Sea fishermen met with green groups, WWF, Marine Scotland and fisheries scientists, to find a solution to the depleting stocks and have swapped their nets for different mesh sizes to allow younger fish to escape. Campaign founder and skipper, Peter Bruce, said: "We’re not happy with the way that we have been portrayed. What the programme called facts were just lies. We thought there was such a misrepresentation of the situation; we had to set up on our own.

"There are plenty of fish in our seas. His campaign is all about scaremongering and I know that to be true because every time we take the boat out we can see for ourselves on our equipment just how many fish there are out there. "Fishermen haven't been given any credit for their efforts, and there is no evidence to suggest that by banning fishing in certain areas that fish numbers will increase, or that this will be the best way to conserve."

The fishing fleet at Petehead has fallen from 120 vessels in the 1990s to only 30. Two weeks ago, Peter’s boat, The Budding Rose, hauled her largest ever catch of cod - 30 tonnes in a single net.

Peter added: "I had never seen a catch like that in all my 30 years at sea. The boat’s ram was completely bent out of shape by the weight of the catch - so much so it has had to be removed for repairs to be carried out. "It was taken around 20 miles from closed cod spawning grounds; I had been fishing for haddock. I was in contact with a fellow skipper who was 75 miles away and he was having a similar experience." Peterhead is the UK’s largest white fish and pelagic (mackerel and herring) port and runs an on-site fish market from Monday to Friday. The fishermen claim that cod stocks in the North Atlantic have reached their highest levels for almost 20 years and ships such as the Budding Rose require only a relatively short time at sea to fill their holds.

Peter added: "Some people want the North Sea left as an aquarium and we just can't have that. We would like the scientists to come out with us and see what we are seeing on the grounds. "Hugh’s Fish Fight seems to be motivated by raising his profile and bank balance. In the first series, he did a great job of highlighting the issue and we were all for it but we are not happy at his more recent claims about fish stocks." "The money spent on his campaign should have been spent on scientific research; his measures will not provide a solution, it will only flood the market with products from overseas which have a high carbon footprint." Hugh’s Fish Fight production company, KEO Films, are currently reviewing their options for a follow-up episode of the series, but have not ruled out a meeting between the two fish crusaders.

To find out more about the Real Fish Fight campaign, you can find them on Facebook.

Fisheries and the Green lobby – what’s the real catch? #eatmorefish

Kathryn Stack, Senior Political Advisor to Struan Stevenson MEP, Senior Vice-President of the European Parliament Fisheries Committee, writes on the influence of the Green lobby/NGOs in EU fisheries policy decision making. Somewhat surprisingly, dismay over the state of commercial fishing has been propelled to the forefront of middle class dinner party conversation across the country. Venting over the rapidly declining fish stocks seemingly on the brink of collapse has suddenly become “du jour”. Have we suddenly become qualified experts in the intricacies and complexities of EU fisheries policy? Or have we unfairly become the victims of the exploitative nature of Green activists? 

The present day environmental fisheries lobby, a once radical fringe movement, has suddenly sunk their claws firmly into mainstream European politics. They show no signs of moving. Once a well-intentioned operation, it has become a confused and misguided witch-hunt, condemning fishing industry leaders and politicians, armed only with ecopropaganda and anti-science policies. Only 58 of the 766 total MEPs are members of the Green grouping. So how and why, are we allowing the Green lobby to dictate our fisheries policy?

The Green lobby survive on employing apocalyptic, scare-mongering tactics. They disseminate hysterical slogans arguing that the world’s seabed will be ruined forever if we do not impose a blanket ban on all deep sea fishing. They panic politicians that overwhelming numbers of their constituents have signed a petition to ban discards. We are made to believe that there is no time for debate and we must act now. Such impassioned strategies mobilise naïve do-gooders and prompt decision-makers into knee-jerk reactions, without debating the potentially catastrophic consequences. These issues certainly do need our immediate attention but we must act sensibly and legislate appropriately. Green must be good

We are persuaded that if it’s green, it must be good. Whether well-intentioned or not, such initial passion for an environmental conscience is ultimately lost among fossil-fuelled convenience and only the fishermen are left to face the consequences. Such tactics have led to unfair hate campaigns across the EU specifically targeting advocates of the fishing industry. The most recent, the Fish Fight campaign, led by TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, propped up by the Green lobby, brought to the masses the horrendous practice of discarding perfectly edible fish overboard. Those who rallied the UK general public against ‘useless politicians in Brussels’ failed to mention those who had campaigned relentlessly for years against this abhorrent practice. Eventually Hugh’s gung-ho blanket ban on discards was picked apart by the scientific community and he soon realised why a ban was not as easy as first thought. Thankfully, Brussels agreed that a blanket ban would not work and has now implemented a sound discard ban targeting specific areas with a phased-in timeframe. Yet, once Hugh’s own campaign had run out of steam, he decided to promote an unresearched yet spirited campaign for areas of sea to be closed from fishing arbitrarily. He was quietly given a dressing down by WWF and has seemingly given up. Whilst he must be applauded for his efforts, albeit media-fuelled, ignoring and even berating stakeholders and politicians will only alienate the very people who have the power to change things.

Similarly, the recent proposal for a ban on deep sea trawling was hijacked by the NGOs who launched a full blown campaign in widespread media outlets and publicly denounced politicians who disagreed. Newspaper adverts showing naked celebrities with dead fish draped over their bodies appeared in a ‘not in my name’ style attack, towering banners were hung from the rafters in Paris’s Gare du Nord and scathing slander of fishing industry leaders flooded online forums. The proposal, which was not supported by the international scientific community, was narrowly rejected yet would have brought catastrophic consequences to the sector with an immediate 10% of UK active vessels being wiped out instantly. Incessant and inaccurate condemnation of bottom trawls is unreasonable and goes beyond legislative proportionality. An easy digestible one-size-fits-all approach grabs the headlines but is certain annihilation of the sector. Instead, a rational approach incorporating the sector would bring fishermen on board to ensure the sustainability of the sea bed and the deep sea species.

Yet despite such expensive, impassioned lobbying, the misanthropic green movement is barnacled by hyperbole and misjudgement. Huge amounts of money are donated to these causes, ruling out any attempt at sensible compromise. Their objectives, coated in a green veneer, are always grand, heavily funded gestures of bans and restrictions; not the management projects which will actually help fishermen catch sustainably and their coastal communities to thrive. In fact, their disproportionate insistence for shark fin bans, deep sea bans and in fact discard bans could have ruined huge swathes of local fishing communities across Europe.

The Green lobby risks only being viewed as an industry that thrives on exploiting the innocent and well-intentioned. Advocating disproportionate legislation through scaremongering will not protect our oceans. This idealism is not real environmentalism. Real environmentalism should involve the only people who can protect fish stocks; fishermen themselves, who can implement real changes to promote sustainable fishing.

Reproduced from: http://www.worldfishing.net/news101/Comment/analysis/comment-fisheries-and-the-green-lobby-whats-the-real-catch#sthash.TkUsk9Y9.auGkdfF9.dpuf

A chance to carve your name in the fishing history logbook!

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is launching the 2014 International Smart Gear Competition, which seeks and supports innovative solutions to address fisheries bycatch, the unintentional catch of fish and other marine species.

The competition begins Saturday and ends August 31, 2014.

“The Smart Gear Competition aims to spur ideas for environmentally-friendly fishing gear that allows fishermen to fish smarter while helping to maintain ocean health,” stated Bill Fox, Fisheries Vice President at World Wildlife Fund. “In addition to fishermen losing millions of dollars each year due to bycatch, many other species, including endangered marine life, are unintentionally and needlessly killed by antiquated fishing gear and it is jeopardizing their survival.”

The 2014 International Smart Gear Competition will offer its largest prize purse to date, totaling $65,000, including:

A grand prize of $30,000 and two $10,000 runner-up prizes, sponsored by Fondation Segré. In partnership with John West Foods, a $7,500 special prize will be awarded to the idea that identifies a solution to reduce the amount of bycatch found in both purse seine and longline tuna fisheries in the waters of the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. Finally, with the Marine Mammal Commission and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sponsorship, a $7,500 special prize that will be awarded to the entry judged to most effectively reduce the bycatch of marine mammals in gillnet fisheries. After the prizes are awarded, WWF works with each of the winners to bring their ideas to life and see them implemented in fisheries around the world.

“Today, more than 40% of the winning ideas identified by the competition in previous years are being used regularly in different types of fisheries,” Fox said.

Since its launch in 2004, the International Smart Gear Competition has demonstrated that conservation and industry can successfully work together to identify and eventually implement solutions to reduce bycatch. Past winners have included specially designed lights that reduce the bycatch of turtles in gillnets, and a device to reduce the bycatch of seabirds on tuna longlines.

This year, the competition is being supported by Fondation Segré, Bumble Bee Foods, John West Foods, the Marine Mammal Commission, NOAA, and WWF. Full details and entry forms are available at www.smartgear.org.

For more information, official competition rules, and instructions on how to enter, visit www.smartgear.org

The International Smart Gear Competition is open to entrants who are at least 18 years old at the time of entry. Employees, directors, agents, current contractors, and relatives of employees and directors of WWF, Marine Mammal Commission, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Bumble Bee Foods, Fondation Segré, and John West Foods are ineligible. Judges and relatives of judges are also ineligible. The competition is void where prohibited. Odds depend on number of entries received. No purchase is necessary.

The competition begins March 1st, 2014 and ends on August 31st, 2014.

Blustery north west winds hit 50mph which means its a fresh 'n freezing #FishyFriday

Caught pretty much in sight of Lamorna, cracking pollack up for auction...

good to see the Gordon's fish on the market this morning...

along with the Cornishman's haddock, the buyers need all the fish they can get at the moment having had to maintain a workforce with very little fish to handle or process for nearly three months...

always plenty of work for the Cefas boys...

Newlyn Fish keeping an eye on things...

especially these examples of gold dust...

quick fish ID course for the new recruits...

"that's never a large med"...

at 42cm more like a jumbo mackerel...

gets the blue flash light treatment...

another one of those fish vying for the ugly awards, this good looking chap sporting the piscine equivalent of the goatee - the ling...

one of Newlyn's big gill netters lays to the fish market.

Supertrawler Margiris in Irish waters

With a huge kerfuffle in her wake after trying to fish in the waters off the coast of Australia and after steaming half way round the planet the second largest trawler in the world will shortly be making her way up the West coast of Ireland.  How will she be received by the boats working in those waters? Where will she land?

Fishing industry has "reason to be optimistic" after minister meeting in London

Fishermen’s leaders say they there is “reason to be optimistic” following a crunch summit with ministers about losses to the industry which it is estimated could run into millions of pounds.

Newlyn-based Paul Trebilcock, chairman of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) and chief executive of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation, led the delegation to speak to George Eustice, fisheries minister and Camborne and Redruth MP. Mr Trebilock said after the meeting in London that it had gone well, although not all their demands had been met.

“It was a positive meeting,” he said. “There was genuine interest from the minister and I think there are reasons to be optimistic.”

The industry leaders had gone into the discussion with the aim of pressing for action in a number of areas, including: 
 • Immediate access for fishermen to the Government’s small business support scheme for businesses affected by the severe weather 
 • Gear replacement funding for static gear damaged or lost in the storms 
 • An announcement on how Government is going to help repair the infrastructures damaged by the storms 
 • Steps to help fishermen recoup the lost earnings suffered from being unable to go to sea for prolonged periods over December, January and February 
 • Deferral of the Government’s intention to charge the fishing industry for light dues, a levy which contributes to the cost of lighthouse services.

Mr Trebilcock said fishing communities had been hard hit by the unprecedented storms, which had left boats sunk and beyond repair even if they were moored in a harbour. He said that taking into account the entire industry, from lost earnings for fishermen, due to very few days at sea, processors, markets, transport and gear, the bill could well run into over £1million. The meeting with Mr Eustice secured an important guarantee that fishermen would be able to access a fund set up for businesses affected by flooding and gales.

The minister also told the NFFO delegation that he had instructed officers to expedite applications for European grant money which could be made available. Mr Eustice also told the delegation that he had spoken to ministerial colleagues about harbour repairs and that he understood the importance to the industry. The minister also said he would consider reviewing light due, the levy fishermen pay to help fund the lighthouse service.

Quota guidelines may also be made more flexible to allow for the hiatus in putting out to sea.

However, Mr Trebilcock said there was no commitment to a scheme to fund gear losses. “The minister was interested and wanted to understand about the levels of losses and what could be repaired, but there was no commitment to scheme, although the minister did say he was going to consider it. “I would have liked to have him say that we can have this scheme and that they just have to work out the details, rather than hear him say it is something they could consider. “But overall, it was a good meeting. “The minister was sympathetic and generally interested in the scale of the problem.

He did appear to want to understand but we do need more than sympathy.” Mr Trebilcock said the NFFO and members of the fishing industry in general would be closely monitoring the situation. Fisheries Minister George Eustice said: “The severe weather over recent months has had a significant impact on a number of fishing communities.

“The government has made a £10 million grant fund open to flood affected businesses, and further options are being considered to help fishermen affected by storms.”

Read more: http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Fishing-industry-reason-optimistic-minister/story-20719011-detail/story.html#ixzz2uciSp8Fd