Glad Tidings of Great Joy We Bring? - updated 17/12/2015

STOP PRESS!


Glad Tidings update and it is, Glad Tidings! - a rescue package has been forthcoming from a benefactor as yet unknown - a big thank you to anyone who helped spread the word!






Can anyone help in any way here?

"This has been my first post here for a couple of years, and I'm afraid to say I am writing it in very bad circumstances.

Glad Tidings as she is today

Glad Tidings, one of the last Victorian fishing "Fifies", a Scottish boat from Arbroath which was our home and which we've struggled to maintain since the death of my father in 2012, sank on her mooring in Kent several weeks ago. Up to this point she was taking in a large amount of water that was being kept at bay by mains pumps.

I made attempts to refloat her but she went down permanently, and the marina have drilled holes in the hull to relieve water pressure and to prevent the vessel breaking apart under the tide.

We urgently need an individual or group to step forward and take her over, and by urgent I mean days and not weeks. This will effectively be a giveaway, though there is several thousand pounds' worth of work involved craning her out and renovating the craft, starting by sealing the hull. I'm sorry to say there are also arrears, which are in the region of four thousand pounds.

In a week the marina are going to break her up. Relations have become strained in recent weeks, so any interested parties would have to negotiate with them as well as us with regards how the boat would be removed and whether it would stay there or not.

Our ambition was to return Glad Tidings to Scotland and ideally we would want a trust with that aim to step in. We've been pursuing that option up to this point, though these things take time and this is something we're rapidly running out of.

Anyone who wants to save a key part of fishing heritage can e-mail me at spalace@hotmail.co.uk. You can also call me on 07432 405 314.

You can read more about our life aboard Glad Tidings and see pictures of her in better times here. Due to bereavement, lack of finance and simply being stuck in an impossible situation we have presided over a mess that I hope can have a happy ending. With your help I can do it and close a horrible chapter in my family's life. Thank you for reading this message."

Steve

The day after the night before.

Fishermen throughout the south west woke up this morning to good and bad and in some case very bad news after this year's marathon round of fish quota recommendations form the Fisheries council in Brussels. Fish on the market this morning included lemon soles..

red gurnards...

ray...

cod...

plaice...

monk...

pollack...

hake from the...

netter Britannia V...

and bass - the fish that will not be seen on the market after Christmas until March when the complete moratorium on catching bass ends for both leisure and commercial fishermen...

this will keep the buyers short of crucial quality fish sourced locally and force the consumer to try farmed bass, mainly form Greece...

meanwhile down the quay fuel speeds its way to the beam trawler Sapphire II...

while the Crystal Sea II contemplates the disastrous news that the TAC for haddock in the south west has been slashed again by 15% - which given the fact that their is more haddock on the grounds than there has ever been seems entirely at odds with the evidence on the grounds - particularly galling for skipper David and crew on a boat that has just been heralded in Brussels as a fishing champion for their work in fishing most efficiently - see Gearing Up For Change...

the crab boat Emma Louise will not be affected by the current quota talks...

while the Silver Dawn is now back in town after working form France after her refit...

as her owner young Mr Hosking speeds down the quay with the news that the boat's...

propeller complete with ID...

is waiting for the boat to go on the slip at high water to be fitted later today...

in the net shed there is no end in sight of the work replenishing and replacing gear - this is just one net from a fleet 100km long.

Fisheries Council quota changes for 2016 - the good and the not so good!

This year's Fisheries Council carve up for the South West in a nutshell courtesy of Jim Portus at the South West Fish Producer's Organisation:


SW TAC:  (RO = rollover)

Hake +9.5%, 

Sol7d -14%, 
Sol7e +15%, 
Sol7fg -9%, 
SolPle7hk RO, 

Ple7de +100%, 

Had -13%, 

Cod -10%, 

Meg +5%, 

Ang7 RO, 

SR7d +10%, 
SR7ek RO, 

PolPok7 RO

Sole d,f & g, Haddock and Cod = disastrous!

Bass ban bites but with some good news!

Anglers - catch & release only from Jan to June, then 1 fish per day catch limit for rest of year. 

Commercial - total moratorium Feb & March then 1.3t per month catch limit for liners and netters. 

Trawlers 1% by catch only. 

No mention of any more mesh size changes

Jim Portus says: "After 2 long days of negotiations in Brussels that ended in the early hours of Wednesday 16th December, Fisheries Ministers and Commission officials agreed a deal setting fish catch limits for the coming year. These limits and their associated terms of exploitation provide a template for the new Demersal fisheries Landing Obligations known as the "discards ban", that come into force on 1st January.

Although many stocks are not yet included in the list of in-scope stocks, the Total Allowable Catches and the national Quotas have been set with an eye to reducing the risk of perversely increasing the level of discarding for some of the "data limited stocks". For the members of the SWFPO Ltd who exploit the waters of the English Channel, the North Sea and Bristol Channel, the quotas agreed provide a mix of good news and bad.

At the post-Council briefing, Fisheries Minister George Eustice revealed the results that generally were greeted with optimism for the future of the fishing industry.

In the west Channel fisheries there is welcome increase for Sole fishermen, mainly operating Beam Trawlers from Brixham. Their 7e Sole quota goes up by 15%. This increase was limited to 15% by the Regulation governing such things. The industry thus missed out on a scientifically justified increase of 44% that could have yielded £1million earnings for SWFPO members.

Throughout the Channel the Plaice fishery quota is increased by 139%. More than doubling their allocations will ensure the fishermen have enough quota that discarding will be ended. The extra 941 tonnes should swell members' incomes dramatically. The income gained from these West Channel Sole and Plaice increases is calculated at around £3 millions.

In the east Channel fisheries the proposed cut was 32% off the Sole quota. Although that cut has been reduced to 14% by also agreeing a new multi-annual recovery and management plan, nevertheless the loss to SWFPO members is very unwelcome at around £500,000!

Hake quota was increased by very welcome 9.5%, yielding an extra £1 millions for SWFPO members.

Of the deal, "Yet another marathon quota-setting session has ended of the Council of Fisheries Ministers. Our lead negotiator, George Eustice MP, was set a daunting task with a large range of proposed quota cuts to scrutinise under a scientific microscope. The EC Commission tends to make their proposals based on single-species exploitation patterns and single-species stock assessments. Where the fisheries are "mixed" and multi-species and where the stock assessments are "data-limited", the Minister is entitled to query the basis for the proposals and to negotiate having regard for the reality of the fisheries and the fishermen. 

"5 Stocks are going up, 8 stocks are non-movers and 6 stocks are going down. Thus I'd calculate that SWFPO members are set to be rewarded from the many growing Channel fish stocks with an extra income to the tune of £3millions, mainly gained from Plaice and Hake. The Dover Sole gains in west Channel are cancelled by losses in east Channel and Bristol Channel. "

What we have been waiting for - Agriculture and Fisheries Council - Press Conference!

Old Blues standard - Rolling and Tumbling the netter's way.

Ajax PZ26 filmed from the wheelhouse of the Karen of Ladram as she makes her way to the next tier of nets...

and later in the day the Padstow registered Berlewen passes down - a reminder to videographers to shoot with your phone in landscape (bottom) not portrait (top) mode!

Calling all fishermen! - Channel 4 needs you for Eden.

Channel 4 has confirmed the commission of an epic new series Eden from KEO Films.

Beginning in 2016 the series will follow the experience of more than 20 highly skilled Brits as they face building a new life with the bare minimum needed to survive creating their own shelter, society and rules. For one year this community will hunt, sleep and live together, cut off from the rest of the world.

The series will be filmed from the inside by embedded crew, personal cameras and a fixed rig, the group will be alone as they start their lives in a remote and isolated part of the northern hemisphere.

So, given the opportunity to live a new way of life will the group learn from our mistakes to create a new Eden? Or will they end up in purgatory?

The community will be made up of a diverse group of people, with a range of skills – from fishermen to foragers, builders to botanists, engineers and entertainers who will each have to cast aside everything from their previous lives to begin again.

With no prescribed infrastructure the group will be given the basics needed to kick start their experience relying on the abundant natural resources and whatever they can scavenge . The series will challenge everything about modern living, raising questions about what we want and need from our communities and how this could shape our belief in society as a whole.

Of the commission Liam Humphreys said ‘Eden developed partly as a response to a growing malaise amongst the young with traditional political systems. It offers a simple insight, what would the world look like if we started again? It promises to be a bold idea, not least because of the scale of the concept but also because as programme makers we have absolutely no idea what will happen’.

Of the commission Colleen Flynn from KEO Films said: “Eden (w/t) is a truly unique proposition, taking highly skilled people, giving them basic resources and seeing what they can create given time and opportunity away from the constraints of modern life. We can't wait to work with Liam and Channel 4 on this highly ambitious and game changing series”

The series was commissioned for Channel 4 by Head of Factual Entertainment Liam Humphreys and Factual Entertainment commissioning editor Ian Dunkley. It will be produced by KEO Films with Executive Producer Colleen Flynn. The series will TX in 2016.

Letter to anyone who will listen from Under 10m skipper/owner Steve Barratt, Ransgate.

10th December 2015

Dear Sir, 

I run an ‘Under 10m’ netting boat the ‘Razorbill’ from Ramsgate Harbour. Unfortunately, fishing is an industry that receives no support whatsoever from this and our previous Government and I have come to the conclusion that the decision has been made to get rid of the industry by starving fishermen out of business with grossly inadequate quota limits and by using unbelievable policing levels to monitor fish landings. If I am wrong in my assumption, I find it hard to believe that so many people can be employed policing an industry they have no knowledge of. The majority of boats operating out of Ramsgate Harbour are under 10m and use probably the most environmentally friendly methods of fishing that there are. We work in a mixed fishery and anyone with the slightest knowledge of the fishing industry will know that quota systems do not work in areas like ours.

The people making the decisions regarding fish quota’s appear to have less idea of how to run the industry than I have about brain surgery and I can assure you that I have no knowledge in this field whatsoever. A few examples of the incompetence I have to put up with are as follows……………

1) I am allocated a reasonable quantity of Dover Sole in December which is a time of year when I am very unlikely to need such an amount, and I am allocated a much smaller figure during the summer months when I can catch it in large quantities.

2) I am never allocated a sensible amount of skate yet it is in abundance around our coast all year round.

3) I am given a large amount of cod to catch in the summer months but told that I cannot land more than five boxes for the whole of December.

4) Working in a mixed fishery makes it impossible to target certain species of fish without catching other species at the same time thus resulting in many fish being returned to the sea with little or no chance of survival. As if this wasn’t enough to put up with, I am regularly boarded and my catch recorded by overzealous fisheries officers who are desperate to catch someone out with a few fish over quota so that they can get a prosecution. They are like the traffic warden who runs around at 7.00am on a Sunday morning issuing parking tickets to people who were sensible enough to leave their car behind as they had had a few drinks the night before. 

I have been spoken to by fisheries officers on two occasions so far this month and I have only been to sea on three occasions! I assume this is because they know that it is impossible to avoid catching more cod than I have been allocated, and also because they know that it is impossible to survive on the amount I have been given.

As if the policing by the MMO and IFCA wasn’t enough, the Customs Border Patrol Vessel the ‘Vigilante’ has been equipped with electronic scales and is busy policing the boats whilst we are at sea. It is an absolute disgrace to have this vessel wasting time on a few inshore fishing boats whilst the country has a relatively high terror alert. This vessel is not doing the job it is designed to do and that is to patrol and protect our borders from such things as drug runners, illegal immigrants and potential terrorists.

I am going to do everything in my power to make the general public aware of the fact that the government find it more important to try and stop hard working fishermen from earning a living than actually protecting our country from an influx of potential terrorists with the capabilities of causing atrocities such as the ones in Paris recently.

Yours faithfully 
STEVE BARRATT

Copies to………..David Cameron PM, Craig MacKinlay MP Thanet South, UKIP, The MMO, Fishing News, Daily Express, We Love Ramsgate Facebook page, Realfishfight Facebook page Steve Barratt Ramsgate Kent CT12 6TE