Monday morning's muted morning skies

High water during one of the biggest tides for the year, but with little wind the bad flooding Newlyn has experienced in recent months it passes without incident...

though the old lugger, Children's Friend has succumbed yet again to an ingress of water...

while others like the inshore boat My Lass take advantage of the high tide to moor the boat where she can dry out and get some work done below the waterline more easily...

the grey boxes are just some of the 225 landed by the Ajax from a two day trip, the red boxes from the inshore trawler Imogen III...

New Harmony, one of the inshore boats responsible for landing the best quality fish on the market...

a  cracking example of a bull huss...

eyes down for the bidders...

cracking hake from the Govenek of Ladram...

early mornings are not so light now the clacks have gone forwards...

and this morning it was fifty shades of blue as the sun tried to break through the heavy overcast sky...

time to top up with fuel for the visiting Brixham beamer, Carhelmar...

ready and loaded and bound for the Scillies...

equipped for all eventualities, the Dutch beam trawler is also rigged with twin rig trawls on her stern...

Saturday action

Three of the biggest netters in the port lay nose to tail...

as work on the Resurgam's winch get underway...

with a few instructions from the shore...

there's still a few jobs to be done on the beam trawl...

looks like the new ice works is taking shape...

yet more damaged pots come ashore...

let's hope it isn't all down to volunteers to put Newlyn back together again...

but at the moment the path by the Green is still closed to the public...

there was plenty of flow here a few wells ago...

plenty of working deck area in the new Imogen III...

visiting Dutch beam trawler, Z402 Nooitgedacht...

shows off her 3m beam trawls and tidy working deck...

and like all boats working a long way from home carries plenty of spare gear like trawls, stocking and cod ends...

all hands to the winch...

the steel works...

two days fishing from the Ajax testimony to just how much fish id out there at the moment...

as the flashing blade of the Ajax's mate, Tom Hicks makes short work of filleting some pollack...

up come more fish...

down goes the hands...

as the skipper takes time to Tweet the latest landing info from the Ajax...

strike a pose, nice one Matt...

before taking more damaged nets ashore for mending...

happy to be home, "here's looking at you babe"...

another bag of damaged nets goes ashore...

piles of beach pebbles put to good use.

The Ajax has landed!

#FishyFriday

Big boxes for big fish...

somehow this mermaid's purse (the egg of a shark) made it ashore...

a box of blues...

two golden opportunities...

Sparkling Line landing in Newlyn...

it's a mystery...

the Anthony Stevenson in better times...

Schools to be told to buy local British products, minister says

Local Cornish MP for Camborne George Eustice tells MPs that schools will from September be told to buy local, in season British products for children's meals. 

No doubt Andrew George (seen here buying fresh fish at Newlyn Fish Festival), local MP for Penzance, St Ives and Newlyn will be the first to see that George Osborne's words are turned into deeds!

Let's hope he means fish as well!

Schools could be made to buy local produce and in season British fruit and vegetables under plans being considered by ministers.

George Eustice, the farming minister, said that the Department for Education is working on measures to ensure that schools across the country use British produce in their meals.

Mr Eustice told MPs on the environment, food and rural affairs committee that from September, schools will be told by the Government that they should be buying local produce.

He said that Michael Gove’s education department is working on a “school food plan” that will “encourage” the use of fresh, British products in children’s meals.

Britain imports billions of pounds of food every year – nearly a quarter of all food consumed every year – and ministers are keen to encourage more local suppliers.

In the Hospital? Thank Healthcare Without Harm for Your Local Seafood

This might be from the other side of the pond but surely these are common issues within health care and sourcing healthy food for those under the care of the NHS?


First, what is Health Care Without Harm? "Together with our partners around the world, Health Care Without Harm shares a vision of a health care sector that does no harm, and instead promotes the health of people and the environment. The mission of Health Care Without Harm is to transform the health care sector worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment."

Summer 2013 Health Alliance Seafood Throwdown

What's fish got to do with it? Fish connects us to ecosystems and communities:

At HCWH, the idea of environmental nutrition focuses on the collective responsibility of supporting community and ecosystem health by paying attention to how food is raised, harvested, processed, transported and purchased. This perspective fosters a healthy, sustainable food system by focusing on strengthening communities, supporting social justice and conserving natural resources through sustainable practices. Buying locally caught fish is an important way to support environmental nutrition. Many New England towns are built around the fishing industry; maintaining the strength of this industry is crucial to preserve fishing communities and enable local fishermen to continue a generations-long tradition. Why are hospitals buying local seafood?

Locally caught fish promotes patient health and community health:

Serving local fish will improve the health of the community from which the fish is harvested. Like fishing communities, hospitals are important parts of the social and environmental health of their communities. By buying fish from local fisherman, hospitals can showcase underutilized species and balance the demand on the ecosystem. This may inspire others to buy and eat different species, which will enable local fishermen to fish a variety of species and reduce overfishing of certain popular fish. Patients will also benefit from added freshness and the higher levels of many micronutrients in wild seafood.

How is Health Care Without Harm helping hospitals source local food? 

Education, outreach and technical assistance to help and engage healthcare and the public:

• Our Balanced Menus Program will assist health care institutions in sourcing sustainable sources of protein, including underappreciated species of seafood from the local fishing communities.

• To support a pathway to internal hospital purchasing, HCWH worked with the seafood aggregator Red’s Best to source through Sysco and Sodexo accounts. Red’s Best operates out of Boston to aggregate the seafood catch of small and medium-sized day boat fishermen and sell their catch to local wholesalers. As a result of this new partnership, in 2013, Red’s Best sold 5,410 pounds of fish to 16 healthcare facilities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

•  We collaborated with NAMA on Seafood Throwdowns to engage with the healthcare community. These friendly competitions between pairs of hospital chefs charged with preparing the best hospital dish using a whole local seafood species and seasonal farmers market ingredients introduce hospital staff, visitors, and patients to underutilized seafood and increase demand for these varieties through hospital purchasing. 

•  The Celebrate the Fruits of our Ocean campaign with NAMA and the Boston Collaborative for Food and Fitness raised awareness about the challenges of the fishing community and new species of seafood to Boston’s farmers markets. These communities now have a direct source of fresh, culturally appropriate and environmentally friendly seafood.

Health Care Without Harm is proud to be part of the shift towards local seafood sourcing. It benefits local fishermen and their communities by establishing larger markets for previously underutilized species; while hospital patients can now enjoy delicious, ecological-responsible seafood.

This post comes to us from Brittany Peats, Health Care Without Harm intern.

Maybe you could call it a token gesture?