Quay Fair day closes this year's Golowan festival bathed in sunshine.

Penzance Dock has a couple of local beam trawlers undergoing repairs...

while the restored lugger, Happy Return lifts her anchor...

one pirate and his escort...

amongst the varied hats on show during Quay fair...

looks like Cinderella had two too many...

the best view of the proceedings but not for those with weak stomachs or without a head for heights!

A fishy kind of Golowan!

Mount's Bay Academy with its strong Newlyn student contingent...

chose a Jules Verne theme for this year's Mazey Day parade...

during Saturday's Golowan Festival...

plenty of stripey tops on show...

and weird looking fish from the deeps...

helped them create a stunning show...

for parade goers...

enjoying the spectacle...

though there were other beats on show like these huge insects...

with the sun shining in direct contradiction of a lousy forecast the mood was upbeat with the Kakatsitsi Master Drummers from Ghana who had been doing workshops in several primary schools during the previous week.

Seafish call for an immediate re-think of the EU drift net ban

Seafish has today made available a report calling for an immediate re-think over the universal ban on driftnet fishing being proposed by the EU in order to help inform wider debate on the topic. The independently authored report, which explores the economic and environmental impacts of the proposed ban, reaches the conclusion that the proposed ban is "unnecessary, heavy handed, disproportionate and inappropriate for UK waters".

In compiling the report it was found that the proposed ban is almost universally unwelcome in the UK, to the extent that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has authored a Letter of Consultation counselling against a full ban. This has had the effect of generating some unusual alliances across fishing interests in the UK. Fishermen, managers, legislators, campaigners and Non-Governmental Organisations are opposed to this ban as it stands and are calling for exemptions, at the very least, in order to ensure this low-impact, versatile and iconic form of fishing can continue in to the future.

The report goes on to state that by blanket banning a practice that is widely used by small boat fishermen in the UK, it will not only endanger the livelihoods of a significant number of subsistence fishermen across the UK but it may also fail in its environmental objectives given that the problems it seeks to address do not exist within UK waters.

Instead of a blanket ban the report suggests that further regionalised decision making when it comes to Common Fisheries Reform may be a better option in order that we achieve the desired environmental goals. The content will be used to help inform Seafish's submission to the consultation exercise and is available for industry and other stakeholders to independently view ahead of the submission deadline on Monday 30th June 2014.

The full report can be viewed here;

It's #FishyFriday! and the 400th anniversary of Penzance's existence when Golowan Festival hits town this weekend!

The town's streets are all set for the Golowan parades on Saturday

the work continues to make good the coastal path between Wherry Town and Newlyn...

the footings are well over 3m below the level of the sea at high water...

on the market, tip-top turbot from the netter Stelissa...

and hake keep the buyers busy...

with a handful of big tub gurnards form the beamers...

it's that time of year when the scallops are in season...

there are still signs of big cod around...

on a #FishyFriday market full of fish...

including these gorgeous grey inshore mullet...

and big monk tails form the Sapphire II...

still thin on the ground, mackerel are making good money...

as are these shining examples of line caught big bass...

the port's top two inshore boats are both ex-French stern trawlers, Elisabeth Veronique and the Imogen III...

there are plenty of visiting boats like these mini inshore scallopers from Falmouth, the Morel Margh and the Amethyst work four dredges a side...

whereas the huge Jacoba works 17 a side...

the Rebecca and Manx Ranger will all be at sea later looking form scallops...

while the netting fleet are now back in port as the high spring tides make it impossible for them to fish effectively.

Stay Safe! - Carbon Monoxide from gas cookers and heaters on boats can kill!

A leading fishing organisation has called for carbon monoxide (CO) detectors to be fitted to all vessels following the death of two fishermen earlier this year…

The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) has called for carbon monoxide detectors (CO) to be installed on all vessels following the death of two fishermen in Whitby. Mark Arries, 26, and Edward Ide, 21, were found dead onboard the moored vessel, Eschol, in January. The NFFO is now calling for additional measures to be put into place to prevent this happening again.

Chief Executive of the NFFO Barrie Deas said: “We are not normally in the business of adding to the regulatory burden on fishermen, but the minimal cost involved in fitting an alarm and the catastrophic consequences of CO poisoning has persuaded us that an obligation to fit a detector should be included in the new code of practice.”

The NFFO has been working with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to follow recommendations from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB). The MAIB report into the tragedy was released this month, and showed the cause of death was CO poisoning. The report noted that the installation of an alarm could have prevented the deaths.

Installing CO alarms on fishing vessels does fall under Health and Safety Work Regulations, which stipulate that risks should be identified and suitable measures taken to reduce the chance of harm. However, the requirement is non-specific.

The NFFO’s Safety and Training Officer Robert Greenwood said: “This is a tragic incident, which unfortunately isn’t as rare as we’d hope it to be. But, one simple change could have avoided it: the installation of a carbon monoxide alarm. The NFFO fully supports the inclusion of a requirement for fitting carbon monoxide detectors in the new codes of practice and we expect it will save lives, instead of the current situation where individuals are punished for ignorance or negligence when it’s already too late.”

Six other cases since 2000 were also highlighted in the MAIB report, which stated that seven people had died as a result of CO poisoning, the majority of whom were fishermen.

Greenwood added: “With fishing already the most dangerous profession in the UK, there is no excuse for not minimising just one of the risks in such a cheap and simple way.”

Changes to the Fishing Vessel Safety folders, which industry body Seafish uses in training courses, have been added to include information on the danger CO fumes. For more information visit: www.safetyfolder.co.uk

Effort Control aka 'Days at Sea' RIP - please!

Effort control (days at sea restrictions) as part of the EU Cod Management Plan, was dealt a fatal blow a couple of years ago by the Commission’s own Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries. Holed below the waterline it is taking its time to sink.

Having studied the EU Cod Management Plan in considerable depth, STECF concluded that there was “no linear relationship between reductions in effort and reductions in fishing mortality”. In less arcane language, this meant that it was concluded that limiting vessel’s time at sea was a questionable way of conserving fish. This was a bombshell because effort control had been the centrepiece of the Commission’s approach to cod recovery since the late 1990s. At a stroke, the whole bureaucratic apparatus of controlling fleets time at sea was shown to have a very weak link to its central objective – reducing fishing pressure on cod.

There was no doubt that effort control increased vessels’ costs and reduced their operational flexibility but the evidence was now also clear that it also generated perverse consequences, such as discarding of the very species the measure was designed to protect. So, it was no great surprise to those in the industry that the scientists concluded that as a conservation instrument it was ineffectual. Round about the same time fisheries managers in New England came to the same conclusion and abandoned days at sea limits.

The reason why effort control is still applied in the EU, (even though annual effort reductions have been dropped after an unseemly spat at the December Council) lies with the inter-institutional dispute between the European Parliament and the Council, over who has jurisdiction over setting annual quotas. The dispute has held up the replacement, or amendment, of a number of long-term management plans, including the cod plan. However, a joint Parliament/Council task force has now produced a report on how to proceed and the signs are that a way out of the impasse has now been found.

Commission Although the final decision will lie with the incoming Commissioner, the signs are that effort control will be ditched as quickly as is seemly. It is likely that it will play no part in the new- generation multi-annual management plans. Apart from anything else, as an input control, the effort regime would be wholly incompatible with the incoming landings obligation. In any logical approach, sweeping away all detailed prescriptive micro-management to give the landings obligation a chance to work would include the removal effort control.

Predictably, this will not happen quickly. Next year our boats will continue to labour under effort control irrespective of how Illogical and discredited. But there is an extremely strong case for effort control to be completely removed by 1st January 2016 when the landings obligation comes into effect.

Story courtesy of the NFFO

Welcome to Paul Oliver, Newlyn's assistant harbour master

As the harbour faces the challenges of the 21st century, Newlyn Harbour Commissioners have recently appointed Paul Oliver in the new role of assistant harbour master.

Newlyn's new assistant harbour master Paul Oliver, Ollie as he is better known to most, promises to be in touch with harbour users in this challenging new role...

Ollie has fished from Newlyn ever since he left school...

on a wide variety of boats from the sardine ring netters...

to big beam trawlers like the Sapphire II...

able to turn his hand to any job...

and a great team player!

Ollie can be contacted on deputyhm@newlynharbour.com