Car carrier 'Modern Express' with huge list adrift in the bay of Biscay.

These car carriers always look top-heavy when they pass you at sea.

The drift of the "Modern Express" was steaming on Jan 29. The ship is rolling in a swell of 4-5 meters and has a drift speed of less than 1,3 knots in winds of 27-36 km/h about 168 miles west of La Rochelle. In the morning of Jan 29 the Argonaute of the French Navy joined the other ships in site. Salvors of Smit intended to try a boarding in the afternoon in order to prepare a towing connection to the Abeille Bourbon.

After 39 years of NOAA/NMFS fisheries management, how are they doing? How are we doing because of their efforts?

Freshly landed fish are rare enough on this freshy #FishyFriday!

Six am and a small huddle of buyers are all that is left on the market this morning...

desperately looking for some fish to buy...

from just a couple of inshore boats lucky enough to get out ...

and fish for a few pollack...

with not more than a dozen boxes in total fish will be at a premium come Monday's market...

as the weather is still poor enough to keep all but the biggest boats in port, though today will see the rest of the big netters head back out to sea at the start of this neap tide...

the Fish Box Club will no doubt be supplying a few lucky customers...

while the grading machine will lie be ready for action again come Sunday midnight when the first of next week's fish are landed...

the bigger boats in the port put out 'springs' - two opposing ropes rigged fore and aft of the boat that help minimise the movement of the boat against the quay...

won't be long before the Emma Louise is blazing a path out to sea again...

but for now the quay is quiet.

Wild, wet 'n windy weather on Wednesday.

Suited and booted, Falfish take to the market floor...

along with that merry band of merchants that make Newlyn the country's finest fish port...

there's fish for all...

including the incorrigible conger...

raucous ray...

as Nathan illustrates the finer points of crab conversation...

this fine specimen of an octopus has Chelsea written all over it...

while these mini monk tails makes tasty morsels...

the FalFish crew get a closer look at a John Dory or St Pierre as it is known in France...

JDs aren't the only fish with big 'thumbprint' marks on them, Cuckoo ray have a similar mark although much better defined, each is unique...

octopus of the type more commonly landed in these waters...

consider yourself brilliant if you can ID this fish...

the taking care of  business look...

the wild, wet 'n windy weather this Wednesday has blown all the boats back to port...

including the Plymouth based beam trawler Admiral Gordon...

from l-r, three distinctive bows, Scottish, French and Cornish...

the weather is so bad even the St Piran has had to suspend patrolling the waters around the coastline...

a fleet of nets from one of the port's smallest netters...

and the moneybag end of a beam trawl...

possibly not an alien encounter...

the colour of gold in Newlyn is black for some...

while Tom gets a good washing form the west again...

as does anyone walking near the promenade.

How The Responsible Fish Scheme is changing the fishing industry

The Responsible Fishing Scheme (RFS), developed by Seafish, aims to raise standards in the fishing industry and is the only global standard that audits compliance on board fishing vessels, including ethical and welfare criteria. It enables those within the seafood supply chain to demonstrate their commitment to the responsible sourcing of seafood.

Seafish initially launched the scheme in 2006 however, following recent slavery issues that have been reported internationally, have newly revised the scheme to include health and safety of crew on board.

Certification to the RFS requires an independent, audited assessment of the application of good practice by an individual vessel and its skipper and crew. The assessment considers these five aspects of the fishing vessel operation:

• Safety, health and welfare

• Care of the catch, including storage, handling, hygiene and quality management.

• Training and professional development of the skipper and crew

• Care of the environment use of selective fishing technology, reduction of discards, management of waste and discharges.

• The Vessel and its mission meaning it complies with all regulation regarding fishing gear, where it fishes, what it catches

For more information click on this link to the RFS website - http://www.seafish.org/rfs/

"We cannot afford be caught out over fishing policy."

The Landing Obligation or 'Discards Ban' - The ban is being phased in in 2016 for key species, such as prawns and will have its own distinctive impact north of the border in Scotland. 

From Mike Park CEO at the SWFPO:

"DISCARD ban extension could end up killing off the industry, writes Mike Park As every manager knows, from lowliest football coach to FTSE-100 company boss, success depends on taking people with you. It’s no different for governments, civil servants and regulators, who must surely realise that it is better to work together than to use power to impose your will. We have reached a stage with the implementation of the landings obligation, which prevents fishermen discarding catches at sea, where it is sadly obvious that this kind of commonsense approach is lacking in many areas. 

The promise of regionalisation and improved good governance, which was to be a significant shift from the old regime, is woefully lacking as some member states continue to fight the concept of inclusion. To recap quickly, the discard ban, as it is more commonly known, kicked in at the beginning of 2015 for pelagic species such as mackerel and herring. Now, at the beginning of 2016, it is being phased in for demersal catches, starting with the key species such as haddock and prawns. By 2019 it will encompass all regulated commercial species. 

When the Common Fisheries Policy was reformed, the new European legislation provided for greater regionalisation and enabled fishers’ bodies such as the advisory councils 
to play their rightful role in being advisors and helping to implement policy through the buy-in principle from the sector. In my experience, the advisory councils are serious bodies, which after much deliberation now accept the principle of the landings obligation, which is a political solution to a practical problem, and have worked hard to inject a much needed dose of realism into proceedings with practical and well-balanced suggestions and ideas. 

As everyone knows, the legislation is a square peg which fishers will have great difficulty fitting into a round hole on the fishing grounds. Against this background it is ironic indeed that when it comes to finding a way to make the discard ban work without putting perfectly viable boats out of business, the level of intransigence still on view within European institutions and within some member state governments is extraordinary. 

It’s not as if Scottish fishermen haven’t shown the way before. It is now widely accepted that their commitment to sustainability over a number of years brought us to the position where the majority of stocks are in good health, as confirmed by the science and the quota uplifts at the December Fisheries Council. If we are to avoid undermining this good work, the politicians and 
fisheries regulators need to start showing greater respect for those whom, until now, they have dispatched to the sidelines; in short they must adopt a more pragmatic approach. 

Fishermen managed to overcome the deficiencies and frailties of the current discredited fisheries policy to deliver the healthy stocks we have today. It would be disappointing for all concerned if change brings about a slowdown in that recovery. The industry faces significant dangers, particularly in future years when more species are introduced to the discard ban. There remains a real risk that perfectly viable businesses will go under because measures designed to end the practice of throwing fish back overboard deliver the unintended consequence of killing an industry."

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"Horror images for the fisherman" - the LO in action.

The discards ban has kicked in for all fishermen - not just in the UK - here small Dover soles landed at Den Helder in Holland are died red to prevent them from entering the market for human consumption and hence to a landfill - if they were fed back to the sea as would happen under normal circumstances they would at least enter the food chain again.

Translated by Google:

Fishermen would like to see these fish grow to undersized fish and reproduce. By feeding them and destroy is the future of fishermen at risk. Fishermen do everything possible to fish in a sustainable manner and are open to innovation. But this arrangement is unsaleable to fishermen and the rest of the world. There is a " temporary " solution , which allow the supply of discards now is fortunately limited . Fishermen therefore hope for an even better solution .