The EU’s External Fishing Fleet: Flying the Flag for Transparency and Sustainability

The EU has one of the largest fleets of fishing vessels operating all over the world. It is therefore essential that the EU’s external fishing operations are carried out legally and sustainably.

Seafood Cornwall Training - latest course news for 2017.

Seafood Cornwall Training courses - latest course news:

So you want to be skipper?

There is funding available for experienced fishermen (minimum 2 years fishing experience) wishing to refresh any of their basic or advanced level training or take courses towards their Under 16.5m Skippers Ticket.

Candidates must already hold all four basic safety certificates– Sea Survival / PST, First Aid, Fire Fighting, Health & Safety and have completed their Safety Awareness training to be eligible for funding (subject to Seafish approval).


MCA approved AEC 30hour Diesel Engine course

We are in the process of setting up a four day engineering course, which is part of the essential training needed to complete your under 16.5m Skipper’s Ticket. If you would like to be alerted once it is up and running, give us a call or email: info@seafoodcornwalltraining.co.uk


Earlier this year the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) opened the €243m European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF) in England. The scheme is currently open for projects which focus on the reform of the CFP such as: 

• improving health and safety on fishing vessels; 
• enhancing the quality or value of catch; 
• investing in port and harbour infrastructure such as ports/auction
• halls/shelters; 
• helping the processing of seafood and aquaculture products or general investments in aquaculture.

Apply directly through the MMO website: 
https://www.gov.uk/topic/commercial-fishing-fisheries/funding. 

call 0208 026 5539 or email : emff.queries@marinemanagement.org.uk. 


Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG)

The FLAG will launch in early 2017. The FLAG has 4 priorities:

1. Supporting innovation, diversification and micro business development. Creating shared work space and collaboration between fishermen, fish marketing, adding value and development of energy reduction and innovation in plant and machinery. Improving the quality of the catch & waste solutions.

2. Developing and supporting social, economic and environmental projects which especially benefit smaller and isolated communities where the numbers of beneficiaries is low but impact is an important consideration.

3. Developing and supporting innovation in fish, fish products, fish waste and processes and adding value. Quality marks and catch quality. Environmental projects which benefit the wider fishing industry. Supporting social enterprise, branding and catch quality. Science and research, micro financial instruments. fish bi-products

4. Developing and supporting training to mentor new entrants. Working with skipper mentors and mentors in the wider fishing sectors to ensure entrants are safe and skilled in the many requirements of work.

If you have a project idea that meets one of the above priorities, please get in contact with Chris 01736 364324 or chris.ranford@cornwallrcc.org.uk to develop an expression of interest.

The University of Exeter is conducting workshops for women in fishing.
Come to one of our workshops to learn about:

• How to access funding from the Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG).
• What help the Fishermen’s Mission can provide to fishing families.
• Information and resources for fishing families coping with stress and ill health.

Childcare and refreshments provided

28 January 2-4pm Looe Lifeboats Station and 4 February 12.30-2.30pm Mevagissey Social Club


Please visit our website for more details about our courses.

Finished work, off home - not so for Newlyn fishing boat dodging in poor weather waiting for the tide.

The Newlyn netter Stelissa caught on the webcam riding out some heavy seas in Mount's Bay as she waits for the tide before entering the harbour safley - all in a day's work for the boys.

Going against the grain

Ever wondered why scientific fisheries acoustic surveys seem to go against the grain?

Here's a very informative video from, Steve Mackinson the Chief Scientific Officer to the SPFA explaining why stock surveys appear to be conducted in a counter-intuitive way to that which fishermen might see as the means to determine the distribution of fish in a given area.

Sardines at Douarnenez, a unique place of sale

The Basse Gouach disembarking his fishing, Sunday evening, in Douarnenez

Since the beginning of January, all the sardines landed at Concarneau, Saint-Guénolé and Douarnenez are sold in one place, the auction of Rosmeur. With 90% of online purchases, this trial heads in the direction of a virtualization of the sales. It could be expanded to other species and fleets.

VesselTracker's AIS shows an identical fishing pattern to that of the Cornish sardine boats.

The sardine is abundant in the Bay of Douarnenez. At the beginning of the year, the sardine fleet went out every evening to go behind the Cape of the Goat or to the point of Tréfeuntec, for a few well-provided shots. Very early in the night, fishermen can send their input estimates. Buyers know quickly the amounts to put on sale in the morning. That off Douarnenez concentrates all their attention.

"Avoiding price differences"

Since January 3rd, it has centralized all the sardines landed in Cornouaille, which do not go directly to the Makfroid company. "This winter, the association of sardines and the producers' organization wanted to promote a systematic auction, which we know how to do: I thought we could test a unique selling point, to avoid price differentials between ports, "said Christophe Hamel, director of auctions at the Quimper Chamber of Commerce. 

At Concarneau and Saint-Guénolé, once the shots are landed and the actual quantities known, the information is transmitted to the Rosmeur auction. "By fax, for now, until one day we had a common database, evolving in real time," says Christophe Hamel.

At 6:30 am, José Salaün, responsible for the auction of Douarnenez, can start the sale, rather fast. Only a few buyers are physically present: 90% of purchases are now made via the internet. No need to see the fish so much are the characteristics of the Douarnenist sardine, Bigoudene or Concarnoise well known. "That's why the sardine lent itself to this unique sales experience: it's a flotilla concentrated on a single product, quality, everyone in front of his screen knows what to bid for," adds Christophe Hamel.


One sales team

The test conducted during this winter campaign goes in the direction of a "virtualization of sales", in his eyes, inevitable. It allows a smoothing of the price (around 60 cents per kilo currently) between the ports: with sales spread over several sites, therefore not taking place at the same time, the courses could be different. For the ICC, it is also a way of putting only one sales team moving in the morning, instead of three. Simplified organization, lower costs ... the temptation to expand the experience to other products and other fleets may exist. "We started on the species that is easiest to group, the reflection is, of course, conducted on other fisheries, but it is more complex, we are dependent on the technical tools," summarizes the director of auctions.

Meanwhile, the single sale of sardines may well see its late hour. That of 6:30 am is judged a little late, especially since the ships land early in the night. The buyers want to be able to work the fish as quickly as possible. At several levels, the world of fishing is a world that is accelerating.

Full story from Le Télégramme here:

Mid-week market full of fish.

First boat to be sold this Wednesday morning was the inshore trawler,  Harvest Reaper...

while megrim...

boxes stacked three high...

were side-by-side with plenty of monk tails...

and big flats came from the beam trawlers...

and a few hours old plaice from skipper Tom...

bolstering supplies of big white fish, the Karen of Ladram...

puts ashore a big shot of hake...

which kept the buyers busy checking the best prices they could get from their customers...

the yellow-welly gang...

the netters land stunning looking fish...

not least these cracking tub gurnards...

from the RFS member, Britannia V...

through a gap in the dark cloud...

the moon in waning crescent mode hangs high over the harbour...

with big trips from the two netters both ends of the market were home to their fish...

an early start for the super-crabber, Emma Louise landing her day's work...

with a fresh set of pots waiting to go to sea on the quay...

despite the stunning view this morning, Tom is thinking there is some wind on the way in the next 24 hours.

Of the Sea video - What can fishermen tell us?

In 1981, there were 6,900 fishing vessels in California. Today, only 1,800 remain. Exploring the causes of the decline, including complex regulations, high costs, declining fisheries, and competition with cheap farmed and imported seafood, OF THE SEA follows the fishermen and entrepreneurs who are creating new models for supporting sustainably produced seafood. With local filmmaker Mischa Hedges at the helm, OF THE SEA tells the story of California fishing communities struggling to revive a fading way of life and, through them, the story of the future of sustainable seafood. 

The film poses the question, “What can we learn from fishermen?” (A lot, as it turns out.) 70 min; Sneak Preview.