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Thursday 19 February 2015

GET ON BOARD WITH #CATCHOFTHEDAY!

Members of the UK fishing industry are being encouraged to get on board with a forthcoming campaign designed to champion the diversity and sustainability of many species landed by the UK fishing fleet in a week-long Twitter campaign set to take place in March.

The initiative, dubbed #CatchofTheDay, is being launched by the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO), the body which represents fishermen’s groups, individual fishermen and producer organisations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Running from Monday 16 March until Friday 20 March 2015, the campaign will encourage people to share photos and videos which either represent their involvement in the industry or celebrate the fantastic variety of sustainable fish now available to UK consumers.

Throughout the week members of the UK fishing industry – including fishermen, retailers and processors – as well as chefs, restaurateurs and members of the public will be encouraged to share their love of sustainable fish through photos or videos using the hashtag #CatchofTheDay.

For chefs and restaurants it could be an opportunity to showcase their best fish dish, or for fishermen and producer organisations the chance to show an example of a ‘great British catch’. The Federation is urging people to tweet now with the hashtag #CatchofTheDay in preparation of the week and spread word of the event.

Tony Delahunty, Chairman of the NFFO said: “The idea behind #CatchofTheDay is to give individuals the opportunity to recognise the fishing industry and its contribution to UK life through one simple tweet. We hope it will be a fun way of getting across a serious message not only about the importance of the industry in providing a healthy, sustainable food source to a growing population, but also its inherent commitment to ensuring its future through sustainable methods.”

Over half (52%) of people in the UK now eat seafood at least once a week and in 2013, 624,000 tonnes of fish were landed in the UK, generating a £718m economic contribution from the industry.

This initiative is being launched as part of the NFFO’s ongoing efforts to raise awareness of the growing variety of sustainable species in UK waters and the important strides which have been made by the industry, particularly in the last 10 years, to improve gear and catch methods to in turn boost stock levels. According to the latest ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea), there has been a 50% reduction in fishing pressure across all commercial stocks in the North Atlantic since 2000.

To get involved in #CatchofTheDay, tweet your photos with the hashtag during the week 16-20 March.

Sea to Plate - the haddock way.

Sea to Plate from Beard Askew Productions on Vimeo.

The journey of a North Sea Haddock from the sea to our plate needn’t be a complicated one! In fact it shouldn’t take more than 24 hours.

The Scottish White Fish Producers Association (SWFPA) wanted to explain how an MSC certified Scottish Haddock is caught, handled, landed, sold at market, processed, delivered and sold to eat all with in 24 hours. Caulm Richardson, owner of The Bay, Stonehaven, believes that shops need to act responsibly and provide customers with not only as much fresh produce as possible, but also educate customers to the provenance of the food we eat.

This is exactly what the people that feature in the series believe.

Peter Bruce has been going to sea for more than 30 years. He is the skipper of the Budding Rose, a pair trawler in the North Sea. We spoke to Peter immediately after he landed 400 boxes of MSC sustainable haddock and he explained his part of the process.

Danny Couper Jnr is a second-generation fish merchant. His father Danny Snr started Couper Seafoods and his son Jaime is now working for the business. Danny explains the role of the buyer and processor in the journey of a North Sea haddock.

Calum Richardson owns The Bay Fish and Chips, Stonehaven, which is currently the Independent Fish and Chips Shop of the Year 2013! So he knows a thing or two about cooking haddock. He is also a big supporter of sustainable fishing. Calum tells us how important sourcing the best fish possible is, and how vital it is to support our local fishing communities.

Storming start!

Photos courtesy of the Ajax

Karen of Ladram dodges in bad weather over 150 miles west of Land's End on her maiden trip from Nelwyn as a hake netter. She landed over 400 boxes on both Newlyn and Brixham fish markets on Monday this week. prices were poor.

35 years ago it was the mackerel - Sardines move north due to ocean warming

Sardines, anchovies and mackerels play a crucial role in marine ecosystems, as well as having a high commercial value. However, the warming of waters makes them vanish from their usual seas and migrate north, as confirmed by a pioneering study analysing 57,000 fish censuses from 40 years. The researchers warn that coastal towns dependent on these fishery resources must adapt their economies.

The continued increase in water temperature has altered the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems across the world. The effect has been greater in the North Atlantic, with increases of up to 1.3 ºC in the average temperature over the last 30 years.

This variation directly affects the frequency and biogeography of a group of pelagic fish, which includes the sardine (Sardina pilchardus), anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) and mackerel (Scomber scombrus), among others, which feed off phytoplankton and zooplankton and that are the staple diet of large predators such as cetaceans, large fish and marine birds. These fish also represent a significant source of income for the majority of coastal countries in the world.

Until now, scientists had not managed to prove whether the changes observed in the physiology of the pelagic fish were the direct result of the water temperature or if they were due to changes in plankton communities, their main food source, which have also been affected by global warming and have changed their distribution and abundance. The new study, published in Global Change Biology and that has developed statistical models for the North Sea area, confirms the great importance of sea temperatures. "Time series of zooplankton and sea surface temperature data have been included to determine the factor causing these patterns", Ignasi Montero-Serra, lead author of the study and researcher in the department of Ecology at the University of Barcelona, explains to SINC. Bioindicators of the health of the sea

To demonstrate the consequences of the warming of the seas, the research team analysed 57,000 fish censuses from commercial fishing performed independently along the European continental shelf between 1965 and 2012, extracted from data provided by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES).

The study, the first to be carried out on such a large time scale and area, allows for the dynamics of this species to be understood in relation to the rapid warming of the oceans that has been happening since the eighties.

The results reveal that sardines and other fish (with fast life cycles, planktonic larval stage and low habitat dependence) are highly vulnerable to changes in ocean temperature, and therefore represent "an exceptional bioindicator to measure the direction and speed of climate change expected in the near future", points out Montero-Serra.

Subtropicalization of North Sea species

Due to the accelerated increase in temperature of the continental seas, sardines and anchovies (with a typically subtropical distribution) have increased their presence in the North Sea "even venturing into the Baltic Sea", confirms Montero-Serra, who adds that the species with a more northern distribution (like the herring and the sprat) have decreased their presence.

The analysis is therefore a clear sign that species in the North Sea and Baltic Sea are "becoming subtropical [...] where sardines, anchovies, mackerel and horse mackerel, more related to higher temperatures, have increased their presence", says the researcher. This is due to the pelagic fish being highly dependent on environmental temperatures at different stages of their life cycle: from reproductive migrations and egg-laying, to development and survival of larvae.

According to researchers, the changes in such an important ecological group "will have an effect on the structure and functioning of the whole ecosystem". The expert warns that coastal towns that are highly dependent on these fishery resources "must adapt to the new ecological contexts and the possible consequences of these changes", although they still do not know the scale of the socio-economic and ecological repercussions.

Explore further: Climate change redistributes fish species at high latitudes

More information: Montero-Serra, Ignasi; Edwards, Martin; Genner, Martin J. "Warming shelf seas drive the subtropicalization of European pelagic fish communities" Global Change Biology 21(1): 144-153 January 2015 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12747

Wednesday 18 February 2015

Herring for breakfast anyone?

Done and dusted by 7am...

there's still a few late season herring in the Bay for all those mum's who just love their oily fish - 10 minutes under a fierce grill, a dash of lemon and some mayo...

just hake from the Ajax this morning...

looks like a few hours work on swapping over nets to be repaired on the Govenek...

nothing pretty about the sterns of boats these days - but the guys are now provided with much more comfortable and functional working space as a result #progress ...

clearing the fishroom of ice...

while the sun begins to make its presence felt...

that's another auction over and done with for Wiffer...

good to see H&S being taken seriously while the office gets painted...

for Paul...

as Tom keeps watch on the rest of the fleet.

Tuesday 17 February 2015

Cesca rescue - 16 year old skipper praised for his cool head.

Exclusive story from the Pembrokeshire Herald:

THE PEMBROKESHIRE HERALD has spoken exclusively to the skipper of the a Milford-registered fishing boat, who was dramatically rescued along with the rest of his crew last week.

The Cesca, a 16 metre trawler,sank off north Wales on Thursday (Feb 12).

The vessel ran into difficulties off The Llyn Peninsula, but despite the best efforts of the crew and coastguard, she finally sank at around 2330HRS. The four-man crew, who had abandoned ship, was airlifted off the life-raft in difficult conditions. After a check-up in Bangor hospital, they were released the same night.

Sixteen-year-old Jake Bowman-Davies, the youngest fully-qualified skipper in the British Isles, talked of his efforts to save the boat after she started taking on water on passage from Milford Haven to grounds off Conwy.

He told The Herald: “At ten o’ clock the bilge pumps suddenly started running flat out. I put the auxiliary pumps on and called the coastguard, requesting assistance and pumps. They told me to report the boat’s bearing and position every ten minutes, which we did.”

Skipper Bowman-Davies added: “I aimed the boat at land, so I could beach her as a last resort. We started taking on water fifteen miles out, and we got within four miles of the coast before the helicopter turned up with the pumps. They asked us to alter our course to 210 degrees so they could lower the equipment down to us.”

“By this point the engine had failed due to the leak, and the boat had reached the point of no recovery, so we told the helicopter crew that we were abandoning ship.’

Jake described jumping off the boat in the dark in force 8 winds as ‘the scariest moment of my life”

“It broke my heart to leave the Cesca. She had been in the family since I was ten. I did everything I could to save her, but at the end of the day the safety of the crew comes first,” he added.

The owner of the Cesca, Jake’s father Timothy Bowman-Davies, praised the Seafish Training scheme. Both Jake and leading hand Nathan Edmundson (23) hold their 16.5 metre skippers’ tickets, and the other crew, Luke Lane and twenty-year-old Dai Crofts, have completed all their mandatory certification.

“What they learned on the Sea Survival Course definitely contributed to their safe recovery. Without this training the outcome could have been disastrous,’ he said, before thanking the rescue services for their ‘speedy response and professionalism.’

‘I’m so relieved to have my son and crew home safely. Without these institutions in place seamen of the United Kingdom would run a far greater risk,” he added.

The cause of the the Cesca’s sinking remains unknown. However, Jake believes that the boat hit a submerged object in the water. “The helicopter crew told me that they could see something sticking out of the side of the boat. However, I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly what happened,” he said.

Source: Courtesy of the Pembrokeshire Herald

University of Exeter geographers on the market

All in a good cause for the Mission...

away with the tide and out with the pressure washer, it's the time of year when the guys get to scrub their hulls below the waterline...

not a breath this morning...

but not quite Spring yet with a cod chill in the air...

keeps the birds on the move...

as the sun fills the sky...

the market is busy enough...

at first light...

two hands are better than one as the Karen of Ladram's second landing of hake are sold...

while Geography students - some of whom are more likely to end up working for NGOs like Greenpeace or the WWF than in the fishing industry get the story of fishing from the CFPO's Andy Wheeler...